From the central government compound of Zhongnanhai to remote mountain villages, from the bustling Shanghai Stock Exchange to the sacred Jokhang Temple of Lhasa, and from Chinese embassies overseas to peacekeeping camps in Sudan... In the three minutes, most of the 1.3 billion Chinese stopped to do the same thing.

From 14:28 to 14:31 Beijing time on Monday, they put aside businesses at their hands, stopped their vehicles, held their steps, and stood in silence, to mourn or pray for the victims of the devastating 8.0-magnitude earthquake that struck China's southwestern province of Sichuan exactly a week earlier.

The silent tribute, the highlight of a three-day official National Mourning Period which also featured suspension of all entertainment activities and half mast, was the first of its kind for ordinary citizens killed in natural disasters, and matchable in scale only by the nationwide mourning of late Chinese leaders Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.

Heading his colleagues in China's top decision-making body, Chinese President Hu Jintao bowed his head under a national flag flying at half mast in Zhongnanhai, in remberance of the 34,000-strong lives lost to the catastrophe. Former President Jiang Zemin, at a separate place, also mourned for the dead in the same manner.

Hu, in a dark suit with a white flower pinned to the chest, looked sad and solemn throughout the brief ceremony, and gave no speech. However, during his just-concluded three-day visit to the worst-hit areas of Sichuan, Hu had told the nation that he believes "the heroic Chinese people will not yield to any difficulty."

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.

All Chinese bourses and commodities exchanges suspended trading for three minutes in remembrance of the earthquake dead. In the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the Shanghai Composite Index was unprecedentedly frozen at 3610.396 points from 14:28 to 14:31.

"My wife is a native of Sichuan. Over the past week, the development of rescue and relief work in the quake-hit areas has replaced stock prices as my top concern," said Ding Deming, a 60-year-old Shanghai citizen who claimed to have never missed any trading day over the past 15 years.

Immediately after the earthquake, many Chinese stock traders voluntarily pledged to refrain from speculation for market stability and buy more Sichuan-based company stocks to support reconstruction, an initiative dubbed "patriotic trading" by media and market analysts.

In the Jokhang Temple of central Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, more than 90 lamas in saffron robes held a 1.5-hour prayer ceremony for people in the quake-affected regions from 2:30 PM on Monday.

"We pray for the lifting of the souls of the earthquake victims and for blessings on the survivors," said Ngagwang, one of the lamas.

In the old city proper of Lhasa, reputed as the "holy city in a land of snow," some residents burnt Tibetan incense while chanting prayers for quake victims. On Monday, relief materials worth 11 million yuan (US$1.6 million) donated by the Tibetan people were sent to Sichuan by a special train via the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, according to the Tibet Autonomous Regional Civil Affairs Bureau.

Just two months ago, Lhasa itself suffered the worst riot in decades, with violent "Tibet independence" separatists indulging themselves in a spree of beating, smashing, looting and arson, causing heavy losses of civilian lives and property.

Despite the time difference, many Chinese embassies and consulates, as well as the Chinese peacekeeping forces in southern Sudan, observed the silent tribute simultaneously with the domestic public. Some of the ceremonies were held late in the evening or even in the wee hours, and still attracted the participation of hundreds of overseas Chinese.

In a demonstration of the international community's support for China's valiant fight against the natural disaster, 80 foreign envoys and representatives of international organizations in Beijing had visited the Chinese Foreign Ministry to convey messages of condolences by 11:00 AM on Monday.

Black was the dominant color for China on this special Monday, as frontpages of major newspapers, webpages of major Internet portals and even the screen of the China Central Television all turned black in commemoration of the deceased.

The day was also full of sorrow, with millions of Chinese shedding tears for the passing of their beloved ones or the misfortunes of their compatriots.

Peng Hao, an 11-year-old boy from Quanshui Village of Anxian County of Sichuan, had turned speechless ever since he lost both his parents in the May 12 earthquake, and kept lying in a corner of the tent, even refusing to change his stinking clothes, which was bought for him by his parents.

But when he heard the reminding message about the three-minute national mourning from the loudspeaker, he suddenly got up, ran out of the tent and got down on his knees. With eyes tightly closed, he started to weep, with his face flooded with tears. While most of the fellow villagers returned to their tents after the ceremony, the boy was still kneeling on the ground and weeping.

Besides sorrow, however, there were also passion and determination.

On the Tian'anmen Square just 100 meters away from Zhongnanhai, when the silent tribute ended, several thousand people wound not want to leave. They started to shout in a passionate voice: "Go, Go, China!" "Brave and strong, China!" and "Brave and Strong, Sichuan!" with some waving the national flags.

"It's the Chinese people's solemn pledge to the world to host a successful Olympic Games. To ensure our compatriots killed by the earthquake rest in peace, my colleagues and I feel obliged to make the Beijing Olympics a great success," said Wang Pingjiu, a staff member of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG).

BOCOG announced on Sunday to suspend the ongoing domestic relay of the Beijing Olympic torch for three days, but said the torch shall resume as of May 22. The relay, originally an occasion for public celebration, has been turned into a rally of national unity and donation-raising platform ever since the earthquake.

Monday's mourning covered every corner of China, even the cities and towns near the epicenter which were razed to the ground. In Beichuan County, where 60 percent of the buildings in the county seat collapsed and only 4,000 out of the 10,000-strong population were confirmed escaped, a simple and brief ceremony of silence observation was held on piles of rubble by survivors, soldiers, doctors and reporters, with the presence of Vice Premier Li Keqiang, who was there overseeing the rescue and relief work.

But just 100 meters away from the site, a search and rescue team of the People's Liberation Army was totally undisturbed by the mourning activities, busy digging the debris to save a newly-found trapped survivor.

"We can't stop for even one second for anything else, as time is so precious to our rescue efforts," said the team commander. "To save life is another way to show respect to the dead."

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2008)