The epicenter of the earthquake in the Niujuangou region, Yingxiu

The Min River, Sichuan's main river Photos: CFP

It was Spring Festival and I was driving along a two-lane road, circling bare mountains in the direction of the Chuanxi Plain in southwest China's Sichuan Province. The scenery outside the window was breathtaking: on the left side stood giant rocks, while to the right were deep cliffs, at the bottom of which the Min River was flowing.

I was driving from my hometown, West Sichuan's Dujiangyan city, to Yingxiu town, with an aim to revisit the areas that suffered from the devastating Sichuan earthquake on May 12, 2008. An area once famous for the ancient Dujiangyan irrigation system, it is now mostly known because of Yingxiu, which was the epicenter of the natural disaster that measured 7.9 on the Richter scale and left approximately 70,000 people dead.  

If you want to save time, driving through highway tunnels in-between mountains is a better option and takes around 20 minutes. But for me, a local who is familiar with the region, travelling on the old and narrow roads that wind around the mountains was more appealing, making me feel closer to nature.

On the way to Yingxiu, I first stopped by the Zipingpu dam reservoir on the Min River, which is the mother river of Sichuan Province. Providing water for hydropower stations, regulating irrigation and functioning to prevent places alongside the river from floods, the system is one of the most important infrastructure projects in the province. The area around the enormous but quiet reservoir used to be one of my favorite places for a picnic with my parents on the weekends when I was a child. But when I encountered it again as an adult, after the earthquake, a feeling of helplessness overcame me as I was reminded of a personal tragedy from the natural disaster.

Prior to the earthquake, the reservoir was a wonderful place for fishing. I was told by locals that the number of fish was vast and attracted those who enjoyed fishing to the region. One of my father's friends, Uncle Zhang, was one such fisherman. On the day of the earthquake he rode a motorbike to the reservoir as usual, but tragically never came back. People living nearby recalled that when the quake happened, no one who had been around the river's embankments survived due to the high waves that were created by the land's movement.

My next stop was Yingxiu. 80 percent of the town was destroyed by the earthquake, and while there has been a lot of reconstruction, the devastation is still apparent. Standing in the Niujuangou region, the epicenter of the earthquake, I was reminded of the intense power of nature. A bridge remains on a lake, fractured into a series of distorted shapes. Behind it stands a valley where a slope over 100 meters high has been formed by rocks that were pushed up by the moving plates. Under the slope, 33 houses were buried, and with them 23 lives were lost. 

In another area of town I walked past the famous clock of Xuankou Middle School, which still points to 14:28 pm, the time the earthquake occurred. Four years later the students have left the school that was only built in 2006, but the campus remains untouched, a silent labyrinth of deformed buildings frozen in time. The site is now an official memorial for residents and visitors to mourn those lost in the disaster.

Next, driving 10 minutes away from Yingxiu, I visited a neighboring town called Shuimo. If Yingxiu is a place for remembering the disaster, Shuimo is a town for rebirth and new beginnings.

In Shuimo, people of the Han and the Qiang ethnic group have settled together. Before 2008, the town was characterized by its heavy industry and produced a lot of pollution in the area. However, after many factories were crippled in the earthquake, town planners and designers decided to remove them and rebuild the town to be a leisure site. The town has become a fresh 'backyard garden' for people living in nearby areas who want to enjoy a relaxing break. The cool weather in summer draws people to stay the night or the weekend, drinking beer along the river and dancing under the clear, star-filled sky.

Moreover, the ancient town is a really nice place to simply linger. The stone-paved roads and traditional Chinese architecture are very pleasant, and it is interesting to see the Qiang's typical windmills. There are also many Chinese-style teahouses and Western-style bars that are nice to sit in.

Finally, I went to Dujiangyan, an old travel spot where World Heritage site Dujiangyan Irrigation System is located. Fortunately, the earthquake caused no destruction to the dam that was built in the Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC). Other buildings fared less well and today's Dujiangyan is very different from the past. Even though I once knew it well, the newly-built shopping malls and fancy streets were hard to navigate.

The city was also much more crowded than it used to be. The once peaceful, small city now attracts an increasing number of migrants from the mountainous areas in West Sichuan. Moreover, connected by bullet trains, it only takes about one hour from the city center of Chengdu to get there.

That marked the end of my tour of the main earthquake areas. I was deeply moved by the devastation that nature can bring about, but equally moved by people's ability to move on and create something positive out of something so negative.