China begins rebuilding quake-devastated Qiang minority group museum

Source: Xinhua | 05-12-2009 15:57

MAOXIAN, Sichuan, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Reconstruction of a museum of the ancient ethnic group Qiang, which was devastated in the massive earthquake a year ago, began here Tuesday.

With an investment of 138.68 million yuan (20.3 million U.S. dollars), the new museum would cover 4 hectares with a floor space of 10,000 square meters, said Wang Defeng, director of the culture bureau in Maoxian County, Sichuan Province.

Work will be finished in two years, after which all the collections that belong to the museum but were transferred to the provincial capital Chengdu after the quake will return, along with800 items collected during the past year.

Among the 87,000 people killed or missing in the quake, about 30,000 were from the Qiang minority, or 10 percent of the ethnic group whose history stretches back at least 3,000 years.