Chinese open hearts, wallets for quake victims

By Lindsay Beck

BEIJING (Reuters) - Xiao Bi queued for over an hour on Thursday hoping to donate blood for victims of China's earthquake, but with throngs of others doing the same, he eventually gave up and decided to return the next day.

China's capital Beijing is thousands of kilometers from the epicenter of Monday's 7.9 magnitude quake in the southwestern province of Sichuan, but the outpouring of generosity for its victims has been huge.

"We're all Chinese," said Xiao Bi, 27, who works in a clothing store. "If something like that happened in Beijing, I'd hope other people would do the same for me."

The same story was unfolding across the city, where two women stood outside a blood clinic that had already closed for the day.

"Usually we're open till much later, but today we reached capacity by 5:00 so we closed up. We can't take any more," explained a volunteer.

The women quizzed him on what time they should return on Friday to be able to donate.

"I've never done this before, but we'd like to be able to do something, to make a contribution," said one of the friends, Yang Xia, 21. "So many people died, and for the survivors it's horrible."

With some 20,000 dead, a toll that state media said could rise to more than 50,000 as more are found under the rubble, and with tens of thousands left homeless and without food and water, the needs are immense.