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Bai Liqun  still remembers the stories told by the elders about a time when her people slaughtered 'Red Army' soldiers who entered the homeland of the Qiang ethnic group around 1949 because they feared the communist government would take away their land.
In the ensuing decades, the Qiang have become increasingly assimilated with the Han majority in Sichuan province  through intermarriages and government-funded education for their children.
Relief efforts after the earthquake in Wenchuan county, a centre for the Qiang people, have bolstered the image of the government among ethnic minorities after a security crackdown against Tibetan protests in March.
But Tibetans have continued to stage peaceful protests in Sichuan  since the earthquake, and the government has maintained a tight grip on ethnic areas, rights groups say.
Sitting around a table for the midday meal, Ms Bai, 44, and fellow villagers  spoke with amazement about how the government evacuated an injured woman. 'The helicopter ride was free!' Ms Bai exclaimed.
Soldiers evacuated Liu Qingxiu , 78, from Wenchuan after she was injured by falling debris, flying her to hospital in Chengdu .
'The government pays attention to us,' said the elderly woman, who is now living with her son in Qingchengshan  and awaiting a chance to return home.
Her opinion is echoed by Muslim Hui people living in nearby Dujiangyan . 'Frankly speaking, the treatment by the government has been good,' said Sha Fuquan ,  who heads the local mosque.
He estimated the quake had affected  about 15,000  of the 126,000 Hui in Sichuan. The government had trouble providing food to Hui  in refugee camps that  met Muslim dietary laws, but Mr Sha was impressed by how some supplies were delivered from Chengdu.
The mosque served as a centre for distributing aid from a network of Muslims  in the country to people living in the disaster zone, but organisers had to tell the government of their activities.
Sichuan's Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, hit by the quake, has a heavy concentration of Tibetans and has been the site of protests. Authorities have detained more than 80 nuns,  and troops shot a  university student after she unfurled a Tibetan flag last month, the International Campaign for Tibet  says.



Relief effort gives Beijing a better image among ethnic minorities