All entertainment activities at the Shanghai World Expo will be suspended Sunday to show respect for the victims of a massive mudslide in northwest China's Gansu Province.

The Chinese national flags at the Expo Garden would fly at half-mast, and both the music broadcast at the opening and during the day would be stopped, the Shanghai Expo Bureau announced Saturday.

Sun Weimin, the Expo Bureau's concierge director, said flags of the Bureau of International Expositions and the Shanghai World Expo would also fly at half-mast.

Other Expo participants could decide for themselves whether to fly their flags at half-mast.

The announcement was in line with that of the State Council, China's cabinet, which ordered suspension of all public entertainment and that national flags fly at half-mast Sunday.

The mudslide, which hit Zhouqu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, on Aug. 8 has killed at least 1,156 people and an estimated 588 are still missing.

(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2010)