By Guan Xiaofeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-29 13:25

Beichuan county will build two monuments in memory of the earthquake victims, a local official said.

Both the monuments will come up near Beichuan Middle School, with one carrying the names of the victims and the other of the rescue and relief workers and donors from across the country, Li Chunshou, vice-chairman of the county's people's congress, said yesterday.

Though Beichuan is about 90 km from the epicenter of the quake, it was one of the worst hit places by the May 12 earthquake.

Thousands of residents of the country's only autonomous county for the Qiang ethnic minority were killed and almost 80 percent of its buildings destroyed.

And landslides that followed the quake practically leveled the entire county town, situated in a river valley.

The local government will build an earthquake museum in the former county seat, which will not have any human settlement any more.

Feng Jicai, vice-chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, suggested the museum display three things: rubble to reflect the extent of the destruction of the quake, a museum and a monument or wall inscribed with the victims' names.

"A museum does not only demonstrate the pain suffered by the people, but also showcases the unyielding power and spirit of mankind Such a museum will enable people to have a better understanding of life and nature and stay clear-headed and motivated."

The museum should display all the objects and materials related to the quake.

For example, it should have the schoolbags of the students who died when their school building collapsed and the cell phone on which a woman sent her last message to her son before being buried under rubble.

It should also include the paper boards that have the names of the hundreds of missing people, crushed cars, broken stretchers, excavators, life-detecting gadgets, parachutes used by paratroopers, blood-stained clothes, photographs, and the loudspeaker used by Premier Wen Jiabao.

Even Wen said when he visited the county a second time on May 22 that the ruins of the county town should be preserved and kept in a museum.

On May 25, a seven-member expert team headed by Li Xiaojiang, head of the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design in Beijing, reached Beichuan county and started work on where the museum should be built.

Song Ming, head of the county's Party committee, said the people of Beichuan will be settled elsewhere because of safety reasons and buildings in the new county town will be strong enough to withstand even a high-magnitude quake.

(China Daily 05/29/2008 page3)