Honk if you're...mourning

This morning I got this email in my inbox at work...

5月19日14时28分起，全国人民起立默哀3分钟，届时汽车、火车、舰船鸣笛，防空警报鸣响。

为表达全国各族人民对四川汶川大地震遇难同胞的深切哀悼，国务院决定，2008年5月19日至21日为全国哀悼日。在此期间，全国和各驻外机构下半旗志哀，停止公共娱乐活动。

Three-Day mourning for quake victims

China on Monday begins 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.

All national flags will fly at half-mast at home and Chinese diplomatic missions abroad from Monday to Wednesday. Public recreational activities will be halted during the mourning period.

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.

I'm glad I got this message, as at 2:28 I noticed some cars were really laying on the horns outside my office. As I started to get annoyed at the abuse of horns, I remembered the message and looked outside my window. On the 3rd ring road (one of Beijing's major highways) the cars were pulling over on the side of the road and laying on their horns. It was quite impressive to see, that it was something everyone knew about and respected. I actually teared up over it; that people were really aware that it was 2:28 (amazing!), which was when the earthquake hit Sichuan last week, and kept it going for a full three minutes, which was how long the quake lasted. Very moving.

I gotta hand it to China, this is the only time when 'standing in silence' and 'honking' seem to go together for a common goal.



On a lighter note, what do you think "public recreational activities will be halted during the mourning period" means?