Yongchang is the new county seat of Beichuan, built from scratch between 2008 and 2011 on flat ground about 20 km south of the destroyed Qushan Town. The relocation was one of the largest post-disaster rebuilding operations in Chinese history — an entire county administration transferred to a new city built specifically for it. Shandong Province was designated as Beichuan's rebuilding partner and funded most of the construction.
The town is instructive as a piece of post-disaster planning: functional and well-built, but with the particular flatness of a place that was designed as a whole rather than accumulating organically over time. Walking through it is a different kind of experience from visiting the ruins — a demonstration of reconstruction competence rather than the more emotionally demanding confrontation with destruction. The new town has accommodation for visitors who want to combine the memorial sites with an overnight stay.