Priorities, priorities. In the past, nation-wide periods of intense mourning were reserved for the deaths of top leaders, such as when Deng Xiaoping--the communist patriarch who launched China’s economic reforms 30 years ago--passed away in 1997. However today Chinese all over the country begin a three-day mourning period for the victims of the quake, observing three minutes of silence at 2:28 PM, the exact time the Sichuan earthquake struck one week ago, killing an estimated 50,000 Chinese.

This is significant, signaling a subtle shift. Domestic media has devoted more coverage to quake victims than in the past--showing much of the emotion, tragedy and desperation that only ordinary citizens can be feeling. And top leaders such as President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Xiabao are spending a lot more high-profile time and energy at the disaster scene. Hu visited a camp for homeless survivors in Yinghua on his third day in the disaster zone. “I share the pain with you,” he was quoted by state media as saying, “I know you lost family and property.”

We’ve already blogged on Premier Wen’s earlier visit, as he scrambled to help rescuers, hurting his arm. Contrast this to Burma’s leading general Tan Shwe who only was only now getting around to visiting cyclone victims there.

It’s all about priorities now, and the regime must choose carefully. The Olympics organizers have fittingly announced that the Games’ torch relay will also be suspended during the mourning period.

Meanwhile the grassroots effort in the disaster zone is changing, a reflection that the chances of finding survivors alive in the rubble are diminishing fast. "It will soon be too late" to find trapped survivors, said Koji Fujiya, deputy leader of a Japanese rescue team working in Beichuan, where his team pulled ten bodies out of Beichuan's high school Sunday.

The World Health Organization urged Chinese authorities to accelerate efforts to provide safe water especially (due to the threat of disease), food, medicine and shelter to the living. It urged them not to be distracted by a false belief that corpses were much of a health threat. The confirmed death toll rose to 32,476 with more than 220,000 injured.

Speaking of priorities, there’s been some concern about China’s nuclear facilities in the disaster zone, for fear of a worst disaster in the making. The nuke sites are all secure and confirmed safe, said a Chinese military spokesman, Air Force Maj. Gen. Ma Jian to media Sunday in Beijing. In places such as Mianyang and Guangyuan, China has two nuclear fuel production sites, two atomic weapons sites, and a research reactor within 90 miles of the quake's epicenter, according to the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety. It's good to know they're not in danger. Nobody wants a Chinese Chernobyl.