When the Tangshan earthquake struck in 1976, the Chinese people were living under a strictly-planned economy and didn't have many private property.
Thirty-two years later, China has become a market economy. But in the reconstruction after the Wenchuan quake, the government still has to play a central role, said Zhuang.
The Chinese economy will be faced with a tough issue in helping those hundreds of thousands of people who lost their private property and wealth in the quake, said Wang.
Accordingly, governmental departments will have to make a thorough investigation and provide quake victims with different levels of assistance based on their losses, said the economist.
To help reconstruction, the Chinese government will need to formulate some special policies and provide a large amount of money and materials, Zhuang added.
He is right. Over the last two days, the government has already churned out some preferential policies to support the incoming reconstruction process in quake-ravaged regions.
On Monday, the People's Bank of China (PBOC, the central bank) and the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) issued a notice, requesting Chinese banks to provide financial support, including extension of loan maturities, for relief and reconstruction in quake-hit regions.
Banks should not push for loan repayment if debtors fall behind in payments, nor should they impose fines for defaults or add default notices to borrowers' credit records, said the notice.
On Zhu's case, PBOC's vice governor Su Ning had said his bank was considering "special solutions" for mortgage loans as many borrowers were either killed in the quake or had lost their homes. Further, an expected decline in borrowers' incomes following the quake would make the mortgage a heavy burden for them.
Also on Monday, the Chinese Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation jointly decided to give preferential taxation treatment to quake-stricken areas.
According to the circular, the country will give preferential tax treatment to the fight against earthquake and reconstruction after the quake in terms of corporate income tax, individual income tax, property tax, contract tax, resource tax, urban land use tax, vehicle and ship use tax, and import and export tax.
A much stronger economy
After the Wenchuan quake, a rich couple who are survivors of the 1976 earthquake, won plaudits from ordinary Chinese for their generosity in making charitable donation for Wenchuan quake victims.
Zhang Xiangqing, in his late 30s, and his wife surprised many Chinese by donating a total of 100 million yuan for quake relief and reconstruction work.
The Zhangs, who founded and own the Tianjin Rockcheck Steel Group Co., Ltd., said they would like to help people in quake-hit zones to rebuild their homes and "earthquake-proof schools".
The couple is just a typical example of how ordinary Chinese, including a lot of newly-wealthy people and celebrities who became millionaires or even billionaires in recent years, are taking on unprecedented philanthropic activities to help quake relief and the ensuing reconstruction.
By Tuesday noon, donations for Sichuan earthquake relief work had reached 13.925 billion yuan ($2.01 billion) with 12.516 billion yuan in cash and 1.408 billion yuan in goods.
Governmental officials had said that as relief work was drawing to an end, these donations will be used for reconstruction.
Such generous donations for a devastating disaster were unprecedented in China's history in terms of the total figure and the broad participation of the public.
Besides making charitable donations, there were other means to extend help.
Chen Guangbiao, chief executive of conglomerate Jiangsu Huangpu Investment who has been active in philanthropy, had brought 120 drivers and 60 digging machines from eastern China all the way to Sichuan to assist relief and road reconstruction there.
China Life Insurance (Group) Co., the nation's largest life insurer, which donated 16 million yuan in cash for quake relief, announced on May 14 that the company would pay all the living costs of those orphaned in the quake until they reached the age of18.
Some ordinary Chinese took advantage of soaring private car ownership and drove their vehicles from across the country to the quake-hit zones to give a helping hand.
All these were made possible partly because the Chinese economy, now the world's fourth largest, and living standards of Chinese people have risen remarkably in the last 30 years of reform and opening up.
Zhuang, of the ADB, said a much stronger Chinese economy in comparison with that of 1976 has provided a solid basis for reconstruction efforts.
Moreover, he said, today's China has become increasingly open to international assistance in both disaster relief and reconstruction, which will enable it to make use of international resources.
