By Tracy Quek, China Correspondent

BEIJING: The sombre ceremony in the hills of Sichuan province in south-western China began with a lone trumpeter.

The haunting melody, titled Longing, captured a feeling of deep loss, but also conveyed a sense of hope. The music was the only sound that invaded the silence of devastated Yingxiu town near the epicentre of the earthquake.

There, at 2.28pm yesterday, the exact moment the quake struck one year ago, President Hu Jintao led the nation in remembering the disaster which claimed about 88,000 lives, destroyed millions of homes but also galvanised the country.

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