China's "Best Times in 5000 Years" -- China snowed in as Lunar New Year
dawns

China snowed in as Lunar New Year dawns

By ZHANG QUANYI

Column: Global Survey

SHANGHAI, China, An old Chinese saying goes that heavy snow predicts a
good harvest next season. However, the snow China is experiencing now
may mean just the opposite, as many crops have been destroyed in the
country's worst snow in 50 years.

The China Meteorological Administration finally lowered its severe alert
status Wednesday, after three weeks of devastating snow and stormy
weather caused havoc in east, central and southern China.

The situation was beginning to stabilize as the Lunar New Year, China's
most important holiday, dawned Thursday.

Reports on the snow disaster have been the chief focus of the media.
From top officials in the Communist Party's Central Committee to local
officials and grassroots people, as well as the People's Liberation
Army, everyone has been at war against the heavy snow.

On the eve of the holiday, according to tradition, national leaders made
visits to outlying parts of the country. This year they brought
greetings to soldiers working on emergency relief and repairmen working
on restoring electric lines, as well as visiting ordinary people in
their homes.

President Hu Jintao visited the Zhuang Autonomous Region in the southern
province of Guangxi, where residents remained without electricity and
without telecommunications. Premier Wen Jiabao visited rural areas in
the southwestern province of Guizhou and the city of Fuzhou in Jiangxi
province, where electricity was expected to be restored Wednesday evening.

The premier had earlier visited badly hit areas of Guangdong and Hunan
provinces, stopping at the Guangzhou railway station to apologize for
the delayed trains. The station held as many as 180,000 people at one
point. In Hunan, Wen paid his respects to three electricity repairmen
who lost their lives while trying to restore fallen power lines. Other
top Chinese leaders also visited the snow-hit areas.

All China could be said to be affected, but the provinces of Guangdong,
Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou, Henan and Jiangxi in south and southeast
China have been most seriously hit. The bad weather has caused dozens of
deaths, the collapse of buildings, the downing of power lines and the
blockage of roads and railroads.

Some cities and counties have faced blackouts for up to 20 days,
bringing normal activities to a halt in those areas. The power outages
were caused by the collapse of electricity towers under heavy snow, or
the downing of ice-encrusted power lines.

The heavy snows also caused the collapse of transportation networks,
especially the railways, which were clogged with passengers trying to
get home for Thursday's holiday. Tens of thousands of people spent days
jammed together in railway stations, mostly in the south and southeast.
Some trains were halted in mid-journey, waiting for electric signals to
be repaired or tracks to be cleared.

Flight schedules were disrupted as well, causing pile-ups at airports.
On Saturday the national television station, CCTV, reported that
airports across the country were closed, and 4,000 flights canceled or
delayed.

The situation has also caused health breakdowns and huge psychological
strain. Some travelers who became ill were unable to get timely
treatment due to clogged traffic or broken communication networks. In
one instance, passengers at the airport in Guangzhou nearly rioted after
waiting hours for their flights, chanting loudly, "We want to go home!"

The Lunar New Year is the one time of the year when families go to all
lengths to be together. Unfortunately, this year many people were unable
to get home in time, and are spending the festival on trains, or still
trapped in railway stations, airports or cities far from home. Many
others are celebrating the festival in a blackout. It is the most
unfortunate timing for such a disaster to hit the nation.

However, this unexpected storm may have provided the Chinese government
with lessons that can be applied in the future. Particularly the
collapse of the power networks has stressed the need for quality control
in all infrastructure related to the power supply.

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