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Cold Spell Brings China To a Standstill

DW Staff (act)January 29, 2008

It may be the spring festival in China but winter seems set on staying. Southern China which is usually reasonably mild is sinking under snow and ice. Coal shortages have forced power plants to shut down and food prices are rising as deliveries are hampered by heavy snow storms. There is little sign that the weather is going to get any better over the next few days.

https://p.dw.com/p/LsNF
Clearing snow outside Shanghai station where hundreds of pasengers are stranded
Clearing snow outside Shanghai station where hundreds of pasengers are strandedImage: AP

Shanghai is totally snowed under. There is chaos on the streets. Share prices are falling and people are nervous.

“I’ve never seen so much snow in my whole life,” one man says in wonder. “Usually it lasts one or two days but it’s been snowing now for four days. I’ve been in Shanghai a long time but I’ve never seen this. This type of weather is abnormal in East China. It’s getting hotter in summer and colder in winter. Nature is punishing us.”

Whereas Mrs Yang complains that she can’t go shopping and may not be able to go on holiday during the spring festival. “At this rate I’ll have to stay at home,” she complains.

Tragedy for migrant workers

For Mrs Yang, it may be unpleasant to have to stay in Shanghai but for millions of migrant workers, the fact that they might not be able to travel during the spring festival is a personal tragedy. They usually see their children and relatives once a year during the festival.

Now they’re sitting in stations and waiting in the hope that the trains and buses will be able to travel. Alone in the city of Guangzhou in the south of China, there are 200,000 stranded people waiting.

For three days now, the rail employee Chen Shuifeng has been looking after them: “Many people are ill. Everyone knows that the transport situation during spring festival is always critical. But this year, it’s unusually bad. All the rail lines have been blocked because of the snow.”

Waning power supplies

On top of that, power supplies all over the country are under great pressure. Some power stations have been forced to suspend production because of coal shortages. Damages of almost two billion US dollars have already been incurred.

Chang Jian Ping, the deputy director of the department of power market regulation, explained that “over 80 power stations are in a critical situation. They can supply electricity for three more days only. A tenth of the country’s whole capacity is affected.”

And the weather forecast is not good – further snow storms are expected in south, east and central China.