Yingxiu () is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

of southern

Wenchuan County Wenchuan County is a county in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, People's Republic of China. The county has an area of , and a population of 100,771 as of 2010. Wolong National Nature Reserve is a protected area located in ...

, in northwestern

Sichuan Province Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

. It is located at the southern end of the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, and lies on the road to Jiuzhaigou Valley, Wolong and the Siguniang Mountains. It is located south of the county urban centre, and just west of the city of

Dujiangyan The Dujiangyan () is an ancient irrigation system in Dujiangyan City, Sichuan, China. Originally constructed around 256 BC by the State of Qin as an irrigation and flood control project, it is still in use today. The system's infrastructure dev ...

. The town has an area of , and a population of 5,829 people as of 2021. The town's average elevation is approximately above sea level. It is at the

epicentre The epicenter, epicentre () or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Surface damage Before the instrumental pe ...

and one of the worst hit areas of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. 80% of the town was destroyed and 5,462 people died. The collapsed Xuankou Middle School became one of the most memorable images of the disaster, and is now part of a memorial site. Benevolence Square, a monument built by the Chinese government at the epicentre of the earthquake, contains a huge boulder lying below the surface and surrounded by a moat. A plaque, in Chinese and English, reads "Benevolence Square: It was arable land before the earthquake".

History

Yingxiu was established as a

People's commune The people's commune () was the highest of three administrative levels in rural areas of the People's Republic of China during the period from 1958 to 1983, until they were replaced by townships. Communes, the largest collective units, were div ...

in 1958. In 1980, Yingxiu was changed to a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

. In 1984, Yingxiu was changed to a

, which it remains today. Yingxiu Wenchuan County 07-28-2005

Following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, the

government built 479 resettlement homes for families displaced by the earthquake, which now constitute part of Xiuping Community. On December 18, 2019, was merged into Yingxiu.

Administrative divisions

Yingxiu is divided into one

residential community A residential community is a community, usually a small town or city, that is composed mostly of residents, as opposed to commercial businesses and/or industrial facilities, all three of which are considered to be the three main types of occup ...

and six administrative villages: * Xiuping Community () * Zhongtanbao Village () * Yuzixi Village () * Huangjiayuan Village () * Dongjienao Village () * Yiwanshui Village () * Taoguan Village ()

Demographics

The

government reports that, as of 2021, Yingxiu is home to 5,829 people, living in 1,999 households. As of 2019, prior to the merger with , the town was home to 2,644 people, living in 1,106 households. In the 2010 Chinese Census, the town's population was recorded at 2,468. This is a notable decline from 2007, when it was recorded to have a population of 6,906, and an even further decline from 2000, when the population was 7,977. A 1996 estimate placed the town's population at around 7,000 people.

References

External links

Yingxiu: epicentre of the earthquake
– ''The Guardian''
Wenchuan County Government Website
Towns in Sichuan Wenchuan County Cities destroyed by earthquakes {{Sichuan-geo-stub