It has been one week since the earthquake struck west-central China and left so much destruction in its wake.

As a way to mourn the victims around the nation, the government ordered a nationwide 3 minute 'pause' in remembrance of all those who died.

I expected it to be a quiet 3 minutes, and was very surprised to hear sirens and car horns start going off all around town. I realized very quickly that this must be the Chinese custom for 'mourning'; make a lot of noise to drown out the sorrow?

A couple of other news stories and blogs reported the same thing:

"Suddenly, the horns of vehicles parked nearby started to sound and I remembered that the nation was to come to a halt for three minutes to commemorate the tens of thousands of victims of the May 12 earthquake exactly one week after it occurred. Soon, the ambulances began to sound their sirens as well. It was cacophonous."

"Air-raid sirens and the horns of cars and buses sounded in memory of the dead."

I am reminded of the Chinese custom of setting off fireworks for any sort of special occasion, even at times for a funeral. It is an old Chinese custom that I believe comes from the belief that the noise scares away the evil spirits.

It definitely felt weird for one accustomed to having a "moment of silence" to commemorate the dead, instead of a "moment of noise".