[Over the weekend, up to eight inches of snow blanketed much of northeastern China, closing airports, highways, and schools. In contrast to the region’s typically dry winters, forecasters predict precipitation to continue all week. In Heilongjiang, the province that borders Siberia, authorities are warning of record sleet, slush and snowstorms before Wednesday.]
Over the weekend, up to eight
inches of snow blanketed much of northeastern China, closing airports,
highways, and schools. In contrast to the region’s typically dry winters,
forecasters predict precipitation to continue all week. In Heilongjiang, the
province that borders Siberia, authorities are warning of record sleet, slush
and snowstorms before Wednesday.
On social media, users shared
videos of dogs of playing in the snow, intricately carved ice sculptures and
people skiing down city roads, as well as scenes of snow crashing
down on pedestrians, and a vegetable market that collapsed.
[China’s
Xi Jinping, preparing for a third term, shuts the door on the past]
For many in China, the plummeting
temperatures echoed a similar cold snap in 2008 when the usually temperate
south was devastated by heavy snowfall that froze power lines, dealt a heavy
blow to the local fishing industry and sparked protests at train stations by
stranded travelers.
State broadcaster CCTV on Monday
argued that, while the freezing weather was caused by a similar La Niña climate phenomenon of cooler-than-usual Pacific
Ocean surface temperatures, this year was unlikely to reach those levels.
Even so, in a year when flooding and other extreme weather events
have claimed hundreds of lives and the country has been shrouded in sandstorms, illustrating the effects of
climate change, authorities aren’t taking chances.
Some 190 sections of icy national
highways across nine provinces in northern China were shuttered over the
weekend and at least three provinces canceled classes. Beijing city turned on
central heating nine days earlier than usual.
The disruptions come as Xi presides
over a high-level meeting of Chinese Communist Party cadres, which is expected
to pass a resolution on a centenary of party history,
bolstering his prospects of securing an expected third term next year and
cementing his place as China’s most powerful leader in decades.
But in the run-up to the meeting,
which opened on Monday and concludes on Thursday, a propaganda
campaign about Xi’s deft personal leadership of the country has been
undermined by disruptions to China’s economy, which had recovered quickly after
coronavirus shutdowns last year.
Just over a month ago, a coal
supply crunch combined with soaring electricity demand from industry led to
blackouts in northeast China as local governments were forced to ration power.
A
novel way to reduce emissions? China tries confiscating coal from households.
Last week, a notice from the
Ministry of Commerce advising families to stock up on daily essentials for the
winter led to empty
supermarket shelves and shoving matches over sacks of rice after it
was widely interpreted as a sign of impending food shortages.
Rising prices for vegetables, which
authorities have blamed on natural disasters and rising fertilizer prices,
added to those fears. One supermarket in Shenzhen told local media that its
sales increased tenfold in two days, exceeding amounts in April 2020, at the
peak of China’s coronavirus outbreak.
The People’s Daily, official
newspaper of the party, quickly told the public there was no need to panic,
declaring the advice a precautionary measure in case of further extreme weather
or coronavirus lockdowns that could trap people at home.
At the same time, confirmed
infections from an outbreak of the delta variant, the latest test for China’s
steadfast effort to eliminate the virus, reached more than 1,000 cases across
44 cities as of Monday.
Official statements on each issue
have balanced messages to alleviate concern while signaling a difficult winter
ahead. China’s State Grid, for example, said on Sunday that power supply had
returned to normal but warned of the need for a continued sense of urgency
through to spring to face the ongoing “great challenge” of meeting electricity
demand.
Lyric Li in Seoul contributed to
this report.
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