The devastation triggered a rash of angry and cynical comments from citizens nationwide who viewed pictures of government buildings intact in the same towns where parents were wailing as the bodies of their children were pulled out of demolished schools.
"Why did so many schools collapse but all the government buildings were fine? It's outrageous!" wrote one online chat room participant in Beijing.
The south-central province of Sichuan where Monday's quake was centered suffered major quakes in 1933 and 1976. But the casualty numbers were considerably smaller.
Over the last decade, China's strong economic growth has spread inland, resulting in a burst of construction activity in rural areas. But as the heavy damage illustrates, the gap between China's countryside and urban centers appears to remain huge, not only in terms of income but also safety practices.
The floors of many buildings in rural areas are prefabricated slabs that are laid in place and quite often reused when a building is knocked down, said one longtime construction engineer in the region who requested anonymity.
"These would be free-floating during an earthquake as gravity keeps them in place, and as the walls sitting on them collapse, it would only get worse," he said.
Gao, the Beijing geologist, said a large number of houses that collapsed probably were put up by farmers themselves.
"Many worked their entire lives to build these houses," he said. "When construction materials became more expensive, many of them wouldn't consider earthquake resistance."
The average annual income in Wenchuan, population 112,000, was about $200 in 2002, the latest data available. That was less than one-fifth that of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, about 60 miles southeast.
Chengdu and its 11 million residents were also rocked by the earthquake Monday afternoon. But despite the city's building boom in the last decade, it saw relatively little physical damage and its death toll was reported to be several hundred. One big reason: Many of the older factories and buildings in Chengdu, as in Beijing and Shanghai, were torn down and moved outside the city.
In larger cities, regulators have vigorously pushed most builders to adhere to strict earthquake standards.
William Gormley, a former China manager at Pratt & Whitney's joint venture in Chengdu, remembers what happened before Pratt began construction on its plant in 1996. Officials required the company to double the size of the piers, he said, and dig deeper into the ground to meet current seismic codes.
