Following orders from the Business Council of State, all entertainment activities, including a hundred shows and cultural activities on the site of Expo 2010 Shanghai, were suspended on August 15, national day of mourning for victims of mudslides occurred in Zhouqu in Gansu Province, on August 8th 1239 and who had died and 505 injured according to the latest report. Since the announcement of this tragedy, volunteers in the park of Expo Shanghai had already installed stickers on their uniforms indicating "May heaven bless Zhouqu" in Chinese characters to draw attention to this sad event. In this context, the flag of Gansu held Sunday, August 15th a ceremony simple and solemn mourning during which were transmitted on a large screen images and movies on relief operations in Zhouqu. In addition, Chinese flags and flags of the Office of World Fairs and the Shanghai World Expo were lowered to half mast and no music was played or the opening of the Expo, or during the day. As for the other participants at the Expo 2010, they had the choice to half-mast or not their own national flags. On the occasion of the ceremony of mourning, most Gansu flag lights had been extinguished, leaving the flag in a certain obscurity, and only a few lamps were lit to illuminate a banner on which was inscribed "Sincere condolences to the victims of the mudslide in Zhouqu "in Chinese characters in black and was hung in the main exhibition hall of the pavilion. People thronged the pavilion Gansu to express their condolences to three minutes of silence were observed during which all visitors wore little white flowers on the chest they were subsequently deposited on a glass table in front a map of Gansu.
Tags: expo 2010
