Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday afternoon paid a three-minute silent tribute to victims of the May 12 earthquake in the central government compound of Zhongnanhai in Beijing.
At a ceremony that began at 2:28 p.m., Hu, in a dark suit with a white flower pinned to the chest, bowed his head under a national flag. He looked sad and solemn.
He was joined by his colleagues in China's top decision-making body, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, including Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, He Guoqiang and Zhou Yongkang.
The short ceremony took place while air raid sirens, cars, trains and ship horns sounded across the Chinese capital and most public activities came to a halt in the city, as part of the nationwide observation of a three-day mourning period for the quake victims.
It was the exact time a week ago that the devastating 8.0-magnitude tremor hit Wenchuan County and its neighboring areas in southwest China's Sichuan Province, claiming 32,173 lives and leaving more than 220,000 injured as of 7 p.m. Sunday.