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People Mourn China Earthquake Victims
19 May 2008
At 04:57:40 Monday morning, the Chinese national flag flew at half-mast at Tian'anmen
Square to mourn for the quake victims. All the Chinese national flags will be half-mast in the
world for 3 days from 19.05 to 21.05.
At 2:28 pm on Monday, exactly a week since an 8.0-magnitude earthquake jolted Sichuan, the
1.3 billion Chinese people stopped to observe three minutes in silence for at least 34,000
people who were confirmed dead in the quake.
Throughout China, traffic came to a standstill. Horns and sirens were wailing. Policemen
stood in silence, cap in hand and pedestrians stopped their hurried footsteps.
For three minutes, the Chinese mourned. Office workers stopped working, students left their
classrooms, bourses and futures markets suspended trade and even rescuers who were
still desperately searching for survivors in the ruins of the hardest hit counties of Beichuan
and Wenchuan stopped briefly in remembrance of the dead.
Top Chinese leaders, including President Hu Jintao, and other officials Wu Bangguo, Wen
Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, He Guoqiang and Zhou Yongkang, paid a
three-minute silent tribute from the central government compound of Zhongnanhai in the
heart of Beijing.
The top officials, in dark suits with white flowers pinned to the chest, bowed to a national flag
that was lowered at half-mast. All looked sad and solemn.
Not far off, the hustling crowds of tourists and passersby in the Tian'anmen Square stood in
silence. Kite flyers forgot to retrieve their thread. Photographers turned quickly to face the
national flag. Children were carried onto their parents' shoulders. Many held
chrysanthemums or white paper flowers in their hands.
The same ritual was observed across China as tourists, pedestrians and retirees rallied at
squares and roadside.
Many were weeping.
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