In a Chinese town destroyed in a magnitude-8.0 earthquake three years ago, the survivors have long gone, but the compassion and respect for the deceased never faded.

The central government had injected 420 million yuan (about 64.7 million U.S. dollars) into preserving the ruins of the quake-razed old town of Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County in southwest China's Sichuan Province, said Li Zhengshou, commander of the old town preservation headquarters.

Walking in the ruins, visitors may feel that the moment of the disaster is frozen, as they can see scattered clothes, cigarette butts, dusty dolls, and ropes that were made of sheets to save hundreds of students trapped in a dormitory building at a vocational school.

"The preservation of the quake ruins is a consolation to the deceased," Li said, adding that the 0.9-square-kilometer ruins are the largest quake ruins in the world.

The ruins are also a warning for human beings to revere Mother Nature and a platform to conduct scientific studies, Li said.

About 20,000 Beichuan residents were declared dead or missing due to the ferocious quake, nearly accounting for one-quarter of the overall death toll from the catastrophe.

The bodies of thousands of victims were buried in the ruins, most in a large cemetery, said Zhao Kaisheng, director of the headquarters office.

We would build a new county town of Beichuan while preserving the old town as quake relics, said Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao when he oversaw the rescue operation in Beichuan on May 22, 2008, 10 days after the tremor occurred.

The disaster, an indelible moment in the country's history, should be engraved in the minds of the Chinese people, and some ruins should remain as necessary evidence, Ge Jianxiong, a prominent Chinese historian, told Xinhua.

On the other hand, the ruins could serve as a lasting memorial for quake survivors, said Hu Guangwei, deputy director of the Institute of Sociology of Sichuan Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.

"Providing the bereaved people with a place to mourn their departed family members and friends may help them forget their sorrow," Hu said.

After the quake, four important quake ruins in Beichuan County, as well as Yingxiu, Hanwang and Hongkou townships in Sichuan, were listed by the central government as being under protection, Li said.