China stands still to remember 50,000 killed by earthquake

silence marks one week since worst natural disaster for three decades

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Construction workers put down their tools, drivers stopped suddenly in the street, and rescuers briefly paused in their increasingly vain search for survivors amid the rubble of China’s earthquake devastation.

Busy, bustling China stopped yesterday to mourn the estimated 50,000 people killed by the earthquake exactly one week earlier.

Traffic froze on the highways threading through the country’s cities including Beijing, the capital, and the relentless boom of construction paused as workers clambering over new skyscrapers joined a government-ordered three minutes of reflection.

In the quake zone, rescuers racing to free the dwindling numbers of survivors also interrupted their work to mark the exact moment the ground shook with enough power to render large parts of central Sichuan province into rubble.

The breadth of yesterday’s minutes of mourning underscored the deep impact that China’s worst natural disaster in three decades has had on its 1.3billion people.

Hundreds gathered in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, the city’s historical and governmental heart, where a huge Chinese flag was lowered to half-mast in a solemn military ceremony.

At 2.28pm local time (7.28am BST), the crowd fell silent and stood, many with heads bowed, while air raid sirens wailed. The city’s normally choking traffic stopped dead in its tracks and millions of drivers blared their horns.

Shop, restaurant and office workers emptied into the streets, bowing their heads and folding their hands to join the ceremony – scenes mirrored across China.

In stricken Beichuan, rescuers in orange jumpsuits stopped their digging and stood quietly amid the rubble with eyes downcast, cradling their white hard-hats.

“Our hearts are so heavy, so many of our compatriots are dead.

“As long as we try our best, we have some small hope,” said Ma Cangchuan, a rescuer in Beichuan.

The ceremony over, his team returned to work.

Yesterday was the start of an official three-day mourning period – the first in modern China for anything other than the death of a national leader. The mood in Tiananmen Square – the focus point of pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989 – was of empathy for fellow Chinese.

“This is not the government organising it,” said Wang Xu. “This is the first time civilians have mourned in public.”

After the period of silence, the crowd started chanting and punching their fists in the air. “Go China,” “Go Sichuan,” “Long Live China,” people yelled. Police asked them to disperse after about an hour.

Trade was suspended on China’s stock and commodities exchanges during the three-minute period. In Hong Kong, staff at the Disneyland park closed rides and halted performances.