Rebuilding history

The Acropolis in Athens, the Colosseum in Rome, the pyramids in Giza and the grottos of Dunhuang all tell the story of man's desire to preserve history, even in ruins. How best to restore the damaged structures of historical interest in Sichuan to their original forms is something reconstruction planners for the earthquake-hit areas would do well to ponder.

In Sichuan province, which was hit by the quake most severely this time, 68 sites of historical interest under the State-level protection were seriously damaged. So were 142 similar sites under the protection of provincial authorities. The major structures in the temple in memory of Li Bing and his son, who designed and supervised the construction of the famous dam Dujiangyan more than 2,000 years ago, were destroyed by the tremor.

In addition, quite a number of ancient tower buildings and villages unique to local ethnic minority groups such as Qiang, Tibetan and Hui were also severely damaged in the quake. Nearly 2,000 items of cultural relics were either broken or buried in the rubble.