China mourning quake victims

The mourners, representing all the different ethnic groups in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu, in northwest China's Qinghai Province, wore white paper flowers, a traditional symbol of mourning in China, and stood in silent tribute at 10 a.m..

The national flag in the square was lowered to half-mast and the national anthem played.

Even the rescuers, still working all-out in the search for the 175 people still missing, stopped for three minutes to mourn.

A banner with white Chinese characters reading "In memory of our compatriots killed in the Yushu earthquake" hung in the town hall square.

The 7.1-magnitude quake devastated Yushu's largely Tibetan community when it struck at 7:49 a.m. last Wednesday; Kazinform cites Xinhua.

See www.xinhuanet.com/english2010/ for full version