To help with the relief effort, the Nanchang Daily newspaper in eastern Jiangxi Province cancelled its 50th anniversary celebration, donating the 200,000 yuan party budget to Sichuan's Mianyang Daily newspaper, whose facilities were severely damaged in the quake.

Ordinary Chinese, meanwhile, can contribute by using less electricity or taking shopping bags to the store instead of using plastic bags.

One university student in northeastern Jilin Province, surnamed Cui, said she took her own bag to the store to help save plastic, which could be used instead "to make tents for the homeless in the quake zone."

Tents are still badly needed to house some of the 15 million displaced, although domestic producers have been doing their utmost to boost output.

The quake, which rocked Sichuan on May 12, had left 68,516 people dead nationwide as of Thursday noon.

(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2008)