From the heart of Beijing to the devastated southwest, China came to a standstill Monday to mourn its earthquake victims as the number of dead, missing or buried soared past 71,000.

Air sirens wailed across the country as most motorists stopped and blared their horns, bringing an eerie halt to China's usually bustling big cities for three minutes from 2:28 pm (0628 GMT), the moment the quake struck a week earlier.

Thousands of people, many of them university students, converged on Beijing's Tiananmen Square, holding up flags and chanting slogans of support for the victims.

As the five-star national flag flew at half-mast in front of the portrait of revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, the crowd in the giant square chanted "Long live China!" while punching the air with their fists.

Trading was also halted for three minutes on China's stock markets, while there was even a moment of silence at the casinos in the southern gambling haven of Macau.

The last time the world's most populous nation held official mourning was when Mao, the founder of the communist state, died in 1976.

In the town of Dujiangyan, reduced to little more than a heap of mangled concrete and steel, 60 relatives of dead children held candles and incense at one of the thousands of schools flattened in Sichuan province.

One mother who lost both her daughters, Qiqi and Jiajia, collapsed in front of the school building.

"This is unbearable. I lost you both," she wailed.

The official grieving came as mudslides and a fresh aftershock hampered the efforts to help the nearly five million people who were made homeless by the May 12 disaster.

The transport ministry reported that mudslides had buried more than 200 relief workers over the past several days, with no word on how many were dead or alive.

The government last week estimated more than 50,000 people died in the quake -- which measured 8.0 on the Richter scale -- that reduced entire towns to heaps of steel and concrete.

But that number looked to be a huge underestimate.

The top leader in Sichuan, Communist party chief Liu Qibao, put the number of people confirmed killed in that province at 32,173, adding 9,509 people remained buried and 29,418 others were missing -- a combined 71,100 people.

A central government spokesman on Monday put the confirmed death toll nationwide at 34,073.

Hopes that any more survivors would be found were fading, although rescue teams improbably pulled out two women and one man on Monday, according to state-run media.

The man, aged in his 80s, had survived under a collapsed house after more than 160 hours under the debris.

"The quake happened so long before that villagers all thought this old person was no longer there," said army officer Qiu Chengliang, one of the man's rescuers, as quoted by state TV.

"His leg was severed but he still doggedly clung to life," Qiu said.

The earthquake has triggered an outpouring of emotion in the country of 1.3 billion people, with thousands offering to volunteer or to care for children made orphans in the disaster.

Even the relay of the Beijing Olympic torch -- which has elicited strong excitement across China in the run-up to the Games in August -- was called off for three days as a mark of respect.

The government pulled entertainment programmes off television for three days. In Beijing and normally bustling Shanghai, authorities ordered cinemas, karaoke bars and other leisure establishments to cease operations.

Donors at home and abroad have pitched in 10.834 billion yuan (1.55 billion dollars) to help with rescue efforts, according to Xinhua.

But more assistance was needed, with China's foreign ministry issuing an urgent appeal for tents.

China also said it would open its borders to foreign medical teams after letting in foreign rescuers.

Japan immediately said it was sending 20 medics to China.

Heavy rain was expected later this week in the disaster zone, compounding the misery for earthquake survivors.

With roads only reopened over the weekend, some families were only now finding out news about their loved ones.

A group of 62 elderly Chinese tourists who were touring Sichuan -- a scenic, mountainous province famous for its giant pandas and bamboo -- made it back to the capital Chengdu late Sunday.

"It wasn't until Saturday that I knew my mother was alive," said 38-year-old Lu Yunhong, as he welcomed his mother after her two-day bus ride.

"I just can't describe how happy I am."

PHOTO CAPTION:

motorists stopped and blared their horns

AFP