Beichuan County is located approximately one hour from Mianyang City, and was one of the areas hit hardest by the earthquake, wiping out almost half of the county's population. The destroyed Beichuan town itself has become the site of a national memorial where visitors and officials from all over the World will have an opportunity to come pay tribute to earthquake victims.

 

The earthquake also left over 200 elderly without proper care facilities. Elderly care centres are not common in China, and those that do exist do not offer the specialized care that the elderly need. In traditional Chinese society the extended family will care for the elderly. With the severe loss of life in Beichuan County, many of the elderly lost their primary caregivers. The Canada-BC initiative to construct an elderly care centre was designed to give the elderly a chance to live their remaining years in dignity and to ensure that their physical and emotional needs were being met. When completed the centre will be a model care facility that will be the inspiration behind other public works projects. 

 
The completed structure will include approximately 4800 m2 of residential buildings, public service facilities such as clinic, cafeteria, leisure rooms, offices, meeting rooms, as well as garden and outdoor recreation facilities. The Mianyang Municipal Government has proposed to craft a design that reflects the cooperative nature of this project combining Canadian style wood-frame construction with elements of the Qiang Minority traditional wood-frame structures.