She immediately turned to the Internet for detailed information.For some hours later her mobile phone kept receiving the same message sent by her friends: "Military actions started."

"I hope there won't be too many casualties," she said.

Leading news websites in China such as Xinhuanet and the People's Daily received high online page hits Thursday.

At the China headquarters of the oil giant Shell, news of the military move spread around quickly. But the office was as calm as usual, said Miao Tingting, a Chinese employee.

"I am really sorry to see the failure to solve the Iraq crisis by political means," said Prof. Wang Peilin of Jinan University in Guangzhou, a large city in south China.

In Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region far away from Guangzhou, people were also stirred by what was happening in Iraq.

"It is callous to use military force to solve problems, as it is bound to kill lots of innocent people," said Lhamin Soinamlhunzhub, vice-chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Stock indices at China's two stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen closed slightly down Thursday, showing little impact to news from the Gulf. But three petrochemical companies led the transactions of stocks.

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2003)