China on Monday began a three-day national mourning for the tens of thousands of people killed in a powerful earthquake which struck the country's southwest on May 12.
At 4:58 a.m., the national flag at the Tian'anmen Square in downtown Beijing flew at half-mast after a complete flag-raising ceremony.
All national flags was at half-mast at home and Chinese diplomatic missions abroad from Monday to Wednesday. Public recreational activities was halted during the mourning period.
At 2:28 p.m. Monday, China stood still for 3 minutes to mourn for the victims, while air raid sirens and horns of automobiles, trains and ships wailed in grief. It was quite impressive! Cars, trains, busses - all stop for 3 minutes and people stop in the streets bowing their heads in mourn.
Everyone thinking about the victims and their families. Also in the factory in Doumen where I was this Monday the production stopped and we all stood still for 3 minutes. It was very touching and difficult to have the eyes dry...
I get more and more respect for this country and it's people. When things like this happen they stand strong together supporting each other the best they can. Public donations to the victims of the earth quake have exceeded RMB 12 billion. In cases like this it is good to be a big country with many people.
The death toll from the massive quake is now over 80 000 nationwide and more than 250 000 are injured . And the sad thing is that they will both raise when the digging is continuing.
