Spring Festival Special 2008 

Special Report: China's war on snow havoc

     BEIJING, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- The world's most populous nation began its weeklong Lunar New Year holiday on Wednesday, but hundreds of thousands -- perhaps millions -- of people will probably spend the biggest festival of the year in the cold and dark.

    Citizens in Chenzhou, a city of about 4 million in central Hunan, have added flashlights and candles to their shopping lists, in addition to meat, cooking oil, vegetables, clothes, wine and cigarettes. Radios had become very popular items; as of Wednesday the power, like the water, had been off for 12 consecutive days.

Photo taken on Feb. 4, 2008 shows the festive lantern decoration in the Ditan Park of Beijing, capital of China. The Chinese people throughout the country are celebrating the traditional Spring Festival with various forms of folk arts and activities. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

 

    Parts of the city saw the light again on Wednesday morning, but most households were without power.

    "We cannot watch TV, so my family will listen to the CCTV evening gala for Spring Festival on the radio tonight," said a local resident Xiaotan. "If the lights go back on, I think I will have a shower first," he said.

    Wednesday marks the eve of Lunar New Year, known as Spring Festival, the most important family holiday for China's 1.3 billion people.

    Every year, China Central Television (CCTV) holds a special on Lunar New Year's Eve, featuring dances, songs, and short comedies. This year, the gala will be characterized by another theme: unity and the courage of the Chinese people to cope with the snow disaster.

    More than 3,000 people, including electricians, soldiers and police, are struggling to repair power lines damaged by the prolonged snow, rain and sleet to restore Chenzhou's electricity.

    "Parts of the power lines have been rebuilt and power supplies will be restored gradually for citizens in Chenzhou starting today," said Huang Qiang, vice general manager of the Hunan Electric Power Company, which is under the State Grid Corporation of China.

    Power in 162 snow-stricken counties had been restored by 5 p.m. Wednesday after workers reconnected local power lines to the national gird. Another seven counties were using portable generators, said the disaster relief and emergency command center under the State Council.

    Duyun, in the southwestern province of Guizhou, saw neon lights shining again and music from roadside shops resounding. Ma Yonglin and his wife cheered as they were able to turn on their lamps again. "We can watch the Spring Festival gala on CCTV tonight," Mabeamed.

    Amid the roar of firecrackers, the head of the Duyun power supply bureau shouted excitedly: "All the 300,000 residents of the city have electricity again!"

    Carrying his luggage, Liao Bin rushed out of a four-star hotel in Chenzhou city. "I can go home how," he said excitedly.

    Electricity and water supply were cut in his home since Jan. 28,forcing his family to move into the hotel that could provide hot water for two hours a day and heating for short periods.

    But some are still in the darkness.

    Sitting in candle light, Deng Tao, another resident in Chenzhou, prepared 12 dishes following local tradition.

    "The past year, although marked with hardship, will become a precious memory," he said.

    For people affected by the snow disaster, the government has sent millions of candles, as well as diesel generators and food, to the affected regions ahead of the Lunar New Year, especially to people living in remote mountainous areas.

    In the eastern province of Jiangxi alone, the government has managed to provide 13.59 million kilograms of rice to 820,000 rural residents.

    Residents in Enshi prefecture, Hubei Province, where more than 31,000 households were still without power as of Tuesday, have been using candles since Monday afternoon. A military cargo plane transported 500,000 candles into the area.

    Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, after two trips to the worst-hit province of Hunan, paid his third visit to disaster areas in Guizhou.

    He chatted with workers repairing the power lines on steep, icy hills. He told them: "On behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, I express my gratitude and appreciation to you and wish you and your families aHappy New Year."

    Wen later inspected an electricity transformer sub-station, saying that electricity restoration, which was the key to the province's disaster-relief work, must be accelerated.

    Other senior leaders, including President Hu Jintao, have gone deep into coal pits or visited railway stations in snow-stricken regions to encourage workers to produce more coal for power generation, to sympathize with stranded passengers and urge local authorities to prevent price hikes.

    Freak winter weather -- prolonged snow, rain and sleet -- has persisted since mid-January in China's eastern, central and southern regions. It has downed power lines, coated roads with thick ice, brought trains, buses and planes to standstill and stranded millions of people.

    The weather, the worst in five decades and even a century in few areas, has led to deaths, structural collapses, blackouts, accidents, transport problems and livestock and crop losses in 19 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

    More than 100 million people have been affected, and at least 60 people have died in the freezing weather.

    The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) has lifted the level-three severe weather emergency plan, as forecasts for rain and snow were downgraded for central, eastern and southern provinces.

    The plan was initiated on Jan. 25 in units directly under the CMA and the Meteorological Bureau in 12 provinces including Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Shaanxi.