2:28 p.m., May 19, Beijing, and across China: Senior officials of the Chinese government, including Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, He Guoqiang, and Zhou Yongkang, and Chinese people of all ethnic groups, observe three minutes of silence in solemn honor of the Wenchuan Quake dead. by Fan Rujun/Xinhua

2:28 p.m., May 19, 2008, Tianjin: Citizens observe a moment of silence near the Earthquake Resistance Monument. Xinhua

Silent crowds, Tian’anmen Square, Beijing. by Wang Yongqi/Xinhua

That dreadful moment, 2:28 p.m., May 12, 2008, will never be forgotten by the Chinese people. A deadly tremor measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale jolted Wenchuan County in southwest China's Sichuan Province, and within seconds homes, schools, shops, factories and farmhouses were decimated. In the days that followed, the number of dead continued to rise.
The day after the catastrophe, across the Internet in China calls went out for lowering the national flag to half-mast in honor of the dead. On May 18, 2008, to express the deepest condolence for the dead, the Chinese State Council declared a three-day mourning period beginning on May 19. During these days national flags at home and abroad flew at half mast, all public entertainment was ceased, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and all Chinese embassies and consulates in foreign countries prepared books of condolence.
Beginning at 2:28 p.m., May 19, 2008, people throughout China mourned for three minutes, while emergency sirens and the horns of cars, trains and ships sounded in grief.
At 4:58 a.m., May 19, in Beijing the national flag of China on Tian’anmen Square was raised slowly, as always, in the rising sun. Thereafter it flew gently at half-mast. On this day, all national flags in China and abroad were the same, at half-mast, in respect for the dead.
At 2:28 p.m., emergency sirens blasted and the horns of cars, trains and ships sounded, while all traffic lights along busy Chang’an Avenue in China’s capital remained red.
On Tian’anmen Square, crowds of people stood around the flag, observing three minutes of silence, many weeping openly. People remained on the Square after the mourning ceremony. They called out again and again: “Come on, China! Hold on, Wenchuan!”
In the Chinese central government compound of Zhongnanhai in Beijing, Hu Jintao, President of China, Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, Wen Jiabao, premier of the State Council, and other Party and state leaders, paid a three-minute silent tribute to victims of the quake. At this moment, the passion of the Chinese people was felt across the globe.
The solemn occasion was similarly marked well beyond Beijing.
In Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter, more than 10,000 people gathered on Tianfu Square, some presenting flowers, others singing the national anthem, and many weeping. Some fainted due to their powerful emotions and had to be carried off the Square. In Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, the national flag flew at half-mast on the Potala Palace Square, also crowded in observance of the commemoration.
In Hong Kong, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and other senior officials fell silent at the headquarters of HKSAR. In the busy Tung Lo Wan, people stopped and stood quiet. In Shanghai and Shenzhen, the stock exchanges conducted a three-minute halt in trading.
This was the first national mourning for victims of natural disaster decreed by the central government, since 1949. Respect for life, particularly for the lives of ordinary people, may have been best represented by China’s Premier Wen Jiabao, who proclaimed: “A one-hundred-percent effort must be made, even if there is only one percent of hope.”
This tragic catastrophe brought dramatic change to us all. The Wenchuan Quake has written so many sad stories, and numerous moving stories, as well.
May the dead rest in peace and the survivors remain strong.

May 19, 2008, South Pole: Staff members of Zhongshan Station mourn the Wenchuan Quake victims. Xinhua	June 9, Chengguan Town, Wenxian County: Alongside emergency shelter tents, a villager tends his crop. by Nie Jianjiang/Xinhua	Some wept openly. by Fei Maohua/Xinhua