Residents walk through a debris-filled street Friday after floodwaters receded in the town of Longnan in China's Gansu province. (Associated Press)Flags were flying at half-mast around China on Sunday and movie theatres were silent as the country held an official day of mourning for the victims of landslides a week ago that killed as many as 1,700 people.

A memorial service televised nationally showed thousands of rescue workers and residents in Gansu province bowing their heads in silence while a siren sounded.

Chinese President Hu Jintao gathered with other top leaders in Beijing, saying the country should pause to remember the dead.

All sporting events, concerts, and karaoke parlours in China were silent. Coal miners stopped work. Chinese websites switched to black and white.

The country was marking seven days since an avalanche of mud and rocky debris inundated Gansu, doing the most damage in a five-kilometre-long swath of Zhouqu in Gansu province.

Toll raised

The government raised the official death toll Sunday to 1,248. Another 496 people are still missing.

Most of the dead are ethnic Tibetans. The China Daily newspaper says the region has run out of coffins.

The CBC's Anthony Germain reported Sunday that soldiers and rescue workers have shifted from searching for survivors to disinfecting and rebuilding.

After the memorial service, soldiers resumed their work in Zhouqu as a forecast of more rain threatened more flooding.

With files from The Associated Press and the CBC's Anthony Germain