正文
中國政府宣布:
為表達全國各族人民對四川汶川大地震遇難同胞的深切哀悼，國務院決定，2008年5月19日至21日為全國哀悼日。在此期間，全國和各駐外機構下半旗誌哀...
Notice in Chinese it says "下半旗", is it really "lower to" in English? Actually, it's "raised to"... Here is example:
Chinese national flag was raised to half-mast (or half-staff) to honor the victims of last week's Sichuan earthquake.
Why in Chinese we say 下半旗? Here is the reason:
When raising a flag to be flown at half-staff, it should be first raised to the peak of the staff and then lowered to a point where the distance between the top of the flag and the peak of the staff is one third of the length of the staff. When lowering the flag from half-staff, it should be first raised to the peak of the staff before it is lowered completely.
Remember in English use "raised to".
為表達全國各族人民對四川汶川大地震遇難同胞的深切哀悼，國務院決定，2008年5月19日至21日為全國哀悼日。在此期間，全國和各駐外機構下半旗誌哀...
Notice in Chinese it says "下半旗", is it really "lower to" in English? Actually, it's "raised to"... Here is example:
Chinese national flag was raised to half-mast (or half-staff) to honor the victims of last week's Sichuan earthquake.
Why in Chinese we say 下半旗? Here is the reason:
When raising a flag to be flown at half-staff, it should be first raised to the peak of the staff and then lowered to a point where the distance between the top of the flag and the peak of the staff is one third of the length of the staff. When lowering the flag from half-staff, it should be first raised to the peak of the staff before it is lowered completely.
Remember in English use "raised to".
"be raised to" really makes sense :0)