"Take the construction of the memorial park, the square, and the greenbelts along the streets. We will keep some sites large enough for people of Qiang ethnic group to dance Guozhuang, a favorite collective bonfire dance of the Tibetans and Qiang nationalities, allowing them to show respect and awe to nature.

"We will continue to use a large number of old place names and street names in the new county seat, to let the people feel the continuity of history," Li said. "We will retain the names of the six villages of Huangtu Town that host the new county seat when naming residential quarters. But when it comes to naming roads and streets, we will use as many old names as in the old county seat, such as the most important Xiqiang Road and Yulong Road."

"Different from other cities and towns, the new county seat will come up against residents having gone through great calamities. Like other cities and towns, the new county seat remains as well in the new stage of social development," said Li.

"In this sense, we need to satisfy local residents' demands to reconstruct their homeland, and also meet the new values generated by social progress. To put it simply, we cannot merely return to the old patterns in city construction."

When they started to design the new county seat last October, Li and his fellow designers were worried that the local culture might be lost in the course of forwarding a mountain-based ethnic group to plain belts on the hills.

To their contentment, Li's survey with local residents showed most people agreed with the plans.

"Yes, we love mountains. But we cherish more to have us all live together. So long as we Qiang ethnic groups gather together, we will be able to pass on the core of our culture," said Lei Huiqin, a 24-year-old woman who previously ran a small clothing store.

"It will take a fairly long time to reconstruct communities and social structures in building the new county seat in the days to come. We hope our layout could supply a wonderful platform of sites and materials for Beichuan people to reconstruct their spiritual Eden," said Li.

In the eye of Meng Lei, the new county seat is ingeniously positioned. It is a link embedded in the chain stretching from the earthquake memorial park at the old county seat to the tourism zones in Qingpian and Piankoun towns, of Qiang ethnic group features, and to the virgin forest in the end.

"Business opportunities brought along by the tourism industry and the 1.4-square-kilometer industrial park aided by Shandong, the new county seat will serve as two wings to boost the local economy," said Meng.

Meng is puzzled with one thing: the construction team is running short of time. According to the schedule, Meng's team must complete the first-stage construction, preparing four square kilometers, for the new county seat in two to three years.

"We have given wing to all preparations. We must not lose a second now. I think the best way for us to lament our brethrens' passing away in the earthquake is to achieve great construction results with arduous work," said Meng.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2009)