BEIJING - CHINA has chosen a new site to rebuild the town of Beichuan, where the massive May 12 earthquake killed two-thirds of the population and which the government has decided to leave in ruins as a memorial.

It was one of the places worst hit by the 7.9 magnitude tremor, which fewer than 4,400 of its 13,000 inhabitants survived. Around 70 per cent of the town's buildings were toppled.

The survivors' misery in subsequent weeks was compounded by fear of an inland tsunami if unstable mud dams created by landslides and storing huge reservoirs of water were to burst.

The new Beichuan will be around 35 km away on the flatter land of Anchang township, with building work on the first phase due to start after the Chinese New Year in February, the official Xinhua news agency said.

New housing, government offices and public facilities like schools and hospitals is expected to cost around 20 billion yuan (S$4.34 billion).

The local government of a Sichuan, most famous for its pandas and fiery cuisine, also hopes to set up an 'experimental tourist zone' tracking the quake fault line through Wenchuan county.

It would encompass ruins, a memorial in Yingxiu, a museum in Beichuan and a lake created during the tremors at Tangjiashan, to showcase the devastation and the courage of survivors. -- REUTERS