中国在近一百多年来从来没有像今天这样团结！中国人从来都不缺乏坚强，但今天的团结让活在这个时代人们为此感到骄傲！

The national flag at Tiananmen Square flew at half mast this morning and newspapers across the city published special editions as a sign of the beginning of three days of national mourning announced by China's State Council yesterday. At 2.28pm this afternoon, people have been asked to stand in silence for three minutes as air raid sirens and the horns of trains, ships and cars around the country sound. The State Council also announced that the Beijing Olympic torch relay will also be suspended for three days from today until Wednesday and that all public amusements will be suspended for three days.

Chinese authorities also announced that the magnitude of the earthquake has been upgraded to 8.0 and that casualties from the disaster had reached over 30,000 dead and 220,000 injured. Public donations to the victims of the earth quake had exceeded RMB 8.945 billion by noon yesterday to which can be added the RMB 1.5 billion that was raised during last night's TV gala that was broadcast on nearly every channel last night.

tears for victims

sympathy for families

in the memory of those who lost their lives

God bless them all