CONSTRUCTION of the new county seat of Beichuan in southwest China's Sichuan Province finished yesterday, almost two and a half years after the town was leveled in a devastating earthquake.

The new county seat, of China's only autonomous county for the Qiang ethnic minority, is about 23 kilometers south of the previous site.

Construction cost 9.55 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion), of which 4.4 billion yuan came from the eastern province of Shandong.

Public facilities, including schools, hospitals and water plants, have begun operating. About 40,000 residents are expected to move in by the end of the year.

An 8.0-magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan and neighboring Gansu and Shaanxi provinces in May 2008, leaving 87,000 people dead or missing.

• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• previous [´pri:viəs] a.先，前，以前的 (初中英语单词)
• construction [kən´strʌkʃən] n.建设；修建；结构 (初中英语单词)
• neighboring [´neibəriŋ] a.邻近的；接壤的 (初中英语单词)
• missing [´misiŋ] a.缺掉的；失踪的 (初中英语单词)
• southwest [,sauθ´west] n.&a.西南(方)(的) (高中英语单词)
• earthquake [´ə:θkweik] n.地震；大变动 (高中英语单词)
• minority [mai´nɔriti] n.少数(民族)；未成年 (高中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)