Heavy snow that began falling Tuesday morning throughout eastern
and central China posed a challenge but did little to shrink the
crowds of holiday travelers returning to the cities on the last day
of the week-long Spring Festival holiday.
Hundreds of thousands of Chinese who took to the roads for
family reunions or sightseeing over the holiday braved the bad
weather to head back to work in the major cities and coastal
areas.
Even in east China's Zhejiang Province, where snow is a rarity,
the holiday week was ushered out amid rain and snow that may last
until the end of the week.
The Ministry of Communications, which is responsible for ground
transportation in China, issued a directive to railways, highway
departments, shipping organizations to provide sound service and
safe operations in the bad weather.
The General Administration of Civil Aviation issued a notice to
prepare to launch emergency traffic measures.
An estimated 800,000 traffic administration workers are clearing
snow and checking the safety of transportation facilities.
In Beijing, local traffic departments used 550 tons of urea and
similar melting agents on major avenues and sent out 269 vehicles
to clean slippery roads.
Traffic on the Tianjin section of the Beijing-Tianjin-Tanggu
expressway and the Beijing-Shijiazhuang expressway were suspended
for hours due to snow.
In Shenyang, the capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province,
more than 3,000 passengers were detained in the local airport on
Monday afternoon, when the city encountered heavy snow a day
earlier than other places. The city is expecting flurries on
Thursday and heavier falls on Friday.
Railway passengers are faring better in the bad weather, with
210,000 passengers arriving in Beijing on Tuesday, an increase of
10,000 from Monday.
Some 240,000 people returned to Shanghai on trains Tuesday,
nearly double the official arrival numbers on Monday.
Long-distance bus services set new records on Monday and
Tuesday. Some 137,582 vehicles were recorded entering Beijing
yesterday, most of them carrying migrant workers from neighboring
provinces.
Meteorologists expect cold, rain, snow and wind to affect most
of China intermittently during the next 10 days.
(China Daily February 16, 2005)
