Special report: Strong Earthquake Jolts SW China

The students of senior 3 at Beichuan Higher Middle School attend a ceremony of resuming classs at a temporary school in quake-hit Mianyang city, southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 19, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    by Xinhua writer Lou Chen

    BEIJING, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Millions of people in China and overseas observed three minutes silence at 2:28 p.m. Monday to mourn thousands of people killed in an earthquake which hit the nation's southwest a week ago.

    Chinese President Hu Jintao, top legislator Wu Bangguo, Premier Wen Jiabao, and other top leaders including Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, He Guoqiang and Zhou Yongkang also stood in silence in the central government compound of Zhongnanhai in Beijing.

    The leaders, dressed in dark suits and wearing white paper flowers on their chests, bowed their heads in solemn silence to a national flag flying at half mast.

    Across the country, air raid sirens, cars, trains and ship horns wailed in grief as the people fell silent. Cars, motorcycles and bicycles in the capital Beijing and other cities stopped in the road and sounded their horns. Pedestrians stood with their heads bowed.

    Chinese bourses and commodities exchanges also suspended trading for three minutes in remembrance of the earthquake dead. In the Shenzhen bourse, stock traders stood near their office desks in remembrance. Some of the traders said people have volunteered to buy stocks of Sichuan-based listed companies to show their support.

    China Central Television blackened its screen for the three-minute silence. In the headquarters of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, more than 200 employees gathered in front of their office building, facing southwest, towards Sichuan, in a silent tribute.

    Across the country, people honored the quake dead in various ways, some flew black kites, children stood with lit white candles, and villagers in China's remote northwest burnt incense sticks and fake money in woks to see off the dead. In front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, capital of Tibet, residents performed prostration services while saying prayers to the deceased.

    "The earthquake took away people's lives, but it will not frighten the brave Chinese people into retreat. We will get over the hardships and a stronger China will have a better future," said He Bin, a police officer of the Anhui Provincial Public Security Department.

    In Beichuan County, one of the worst hit areas in Sichuan, surviving students, wearing white T-shirts, stood with their heads deeply bowed. Some of the students were orphaned by the earthquake.

    Rescuers took off their helmets and briefly halted their work for a moment of silence. "When the siren sounded, I felt a sudden shudder. I feel deeply sorry for those dead brothers," said Pu Taihua, a rescuer in Beichuan, his tears mixing with sweat on his face.

    In the Anxian County, also hit by the tremor, more than 1,800 displaced residents gathered on open grounds for the remembrance. Peng Hao, a boy who lost his father, clad himself in a blanket his father used to use and wailed plaintively with his mother.

    In the Tianpeng Middle School in Pengzhou City, Sichuan, thousands of people gathered on the school playgrounds. An eerie silence turned into a outburst of cries when a baby named Dong Chengyuan suddenly cried in the arms of his grandmother. The baby, whose grandfather died in the quake, wears a black armband which reads "mourning" in Chinese.

    Peng's mother Chen Jiao said the family had almost cried all their tears. "There are no more tears. When I found my dad, he was squeezed by two beams, one on his neck and another on his feet. His body was almost disfigured," said Chen, eyes looking in vain.

    After the silence, residents wandered on the playground and appeared not to want to leave.

    In Beijing, thousands of people gathered in Tian'anmen square, shouting "Go, Go, China!", "Brave and strong, China!" and "Brave and Strong, Wenchuan!" with some waving the national flags. Wenchuan county was the epicenter of the 8.0-magnitude quake on May 12.

    The three-minute remembrance is part of a three-day national mourning for those who died in the earthquake. More than 32,000 people have been confirmed dead and the estimated death toll could top 50,000.

    National flags will fly at half mast, public entertainments will be cancelled and the Olympic torch relay suspended during the three-day mourning period.

The students of senior 3 and their teachers at Beichuan Higher Middle School mourn for victims who died in the May-12 earthquake during a ceremony of resuing classes at a temporary school in quake-hit Mianyang city, southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 19, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>