Duration: 5:07

China on Monday 5/19/08 began a three-day national mourning for the tens of thousands of people killed in a powerful earthquake which struck the country's southwest on May 12, 2008 At 2:28 p.m. Monday, Chinese citizens nationwide will stand in silence for three minutes to mourn for the victims, while air raid sirens and horns of automobiles, trains and ships will wail in grief. In the mourning period, condolence books will be opened in China's Foreign Ministry and Chinese embassies and consulates around the world.