'Like hell on Earth'

"Five, four, three, two, one!" shouted the crowd at the Bund in Shanghai, drowning the desperate cries of those watching medics giving cardiac massages to people lying on the ground.

The cheering crowds didn't know that a stampede had occurred at the nearby Chen Yi Square shortly after 11:30 pm, resulting in 36 deaths and 47 injuries, 13 of them serious and life threatening.

Guo Xianzhong, a reporter from Southern Metropolis Daily in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, witnessed the tragedy close up.