Edited and translated by Huang Jin, People's Daily Online
An 8.0 Richter scale earthquake hit Wenchuan and Beichuan counties in Sichuan on May 12, 2008. The earthquake killed 69,227 people, injured 374,643, and caused 17,923 people missing. It was the most destructive quake since the founding of New China, known as the Wenchuan Earthquake.