Chinese leaders paid a three-minute silent tribute to the victims of the May 12 earthquake.

At 2:28 p.m on Monday, Hu Jintao, who was in a dark suit with a white flower pinned to his chest, observed three minutes of silence. He was joined by other naitonal leaders including top legislator Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao.

The short ceremony took place while air raid sirens, cars, trains and ship horns sounded across the Chinese capital, as part of the nationwide observation of a three-day mourning period .

From north to south and from cities to the country side, the country of 1.3 billion people was immersed in (v.陷于) mourning.

It was the exact moment that the 8.0-magnitude tremor hit Wenchuan County and its neighboring areas in Sichuan Province, claiming more than 34,000 lives and leaving a quarter million injured.