On May 12, 2008, Sichuan experienced an earthquake of magnitude 8.0 on the Richter scale.  More than 2 million rural homes needed to be reconstructed. In the following month Hsieh and the Rural Architecture Studio began work developing, constructing, and promoting waste-separating toilet facilities. By the end of July, they finished the first model of a light-steel-frame-and-adobe home. By the end of September, they had successively reconstructed rural homes in villages across Qingchuan, Wenchuan, and Maoxian Counties. Yangliu Village is one of the few Qiang tribal minority villages to maintain Qiang cultural and linguistic traditions. Through the use of mutual aid and labor-sharing methods among the villagers, reconstruction of 56 homes was successfully completed within first year. Light-steel frames were used in combination with traditional local building techniques; first-floor walls were built from locally-sourced and salvaged stone, second storey walls used reinforced concrete, and third-storey construction used wood. Work began from a basic ‘open’ structural layout, giving individual families a great deal of freedom to adjust plans based on their particular circumstances and requirements. Ultimately, this strategy created a harmonious balance in the overall appearance of the re-built village between standardization and diversity.