ZHOUQU, Gansu - Standing among the debris, beside dilapidated buildings or on heavy machinery, about 5,000 local residents and rescuers bowed their heads in silence on Sunday morning to mourn the deaths of more than 1,200 people in the devastating landslide here a week ago.
During the national day of mourning, flags across the country flew at half-staff, all public forms of entertainment were suspended and the country's main websites removed all color from their front pages.
In Zhouqu, local people pinned white paper flowers on their chests, placed wreaths and laid flyers on the ground with the words "we will miss you forever".
"I want to assure the dead that we survivors will devote ourselves to reconstruction. They can rest in peace," said 16-year-old Wang Zhouning, who lost his sister, brother and grandmother in the disaster.
Chen Meijiao, 13, brought with her letters, folded in the shape of a heart and an airplane, in memory of the lost members of her aunt's family and her classmates. Chen said she would burn the letters to them after the mourning ritual.
At 10 am, a PLA soldier raised the Chinese flag as the national anthem played, before lowering it to half-staff. That was followed by three minutes of silent tribute.
Sunday is the seventh day since the mudslide hit, leaving at least 1,248 people dead and 496 missing. According to Chinese tradition, the seventh day after a death marks the height of the mourning period.
In Beijing, the giant Chinese national flag on Tiananmen Square in the heart of the capital city was lowered to half-mast. Although the Shanghai Expo Garden still opened on Sunday, it also joined the national mourning for the victims. Its regular music broadcast was halted and more than 100 performances and cultural activities were canceled, according to the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination.
In Zhouqu, after the mourning ritual, rescuers, including troops and medical workers, continued to clear the debris, searching for bodies and spraying disinfectant. However, the weather forecast said Zhouqu is bracing for more rain in the coming days. But life is gradually recovering as relief operations continue. By Saturday noon, power supplies had resumed in 8,375 homes, or 76 percent of all homes affected by the blackout.
It was the third time in two years that China has observed a period of national mourning for a disaster. The government ordered a three-day observance after the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province that killed nearly 90,000 people and one day following April's quake in Yushu in Qinghai that killed 2,700 people.
