In an effort to bring hope and encouragement to Chinese earthquake victims, people in Aotea Square, Auckland, posted photos of themselves smiling on a large map of China.

Organiser Sylvia Yang of Sail of Dreams Enterprises said to "support those children and people in Sichuan, we would like to send our greetings and support from New Zealand".

Supporters were able to have a photo taken and printed out in the square then could stick the picture on the map.

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Image: Alpha Leung who helped with taking and printing the photos, shown here in Aotea Square sticking a picture to the map of China. Photograph by Natasha Burling.

Alpha Leung, who was helping take and print the photos said at four o'clock there were 610 pictures on the wall and he was expecting there to be about 900 by the end of the day.

Yang said the images would be sent to Hunan TV station, the second largest TV station in China. The wall the photos were posted onto will be sent to Sichuan.

Natasha Burling is an AUT journalism student doing the Graduate Diploma in Journalism. She has lived in Colombia, France and Scotland.