BEIJING, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- China was still suffering from coal shortage because of the lingering cold weather and electricity rationing continued in five provinces and municipalities, including the country's major coal producer Shanxi Province.

    As of Sunday, coal reserves in 598 major power plants were decreasing and could sustain for nine days. Coal storages in 205 power plants could not run for seven days, a national alarming level, according to the National Power Dispatch and Communication Center.

    The situation worsened in 11 percent of the power plants, which would shut production at any time as coal reserves could not support for three days of power generation.

    On Sunday, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, Hubei and Chongqing continued electricity rationing because of power shortage.

    Because of a cold snap, temperature in parts of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, northern China and northeastern China was expected to fall by six to eight degrees Celsius between Monday and Tuesday, according to the China Meteorological Administration.

    Some regions in southern China would experience small or moderate snow falls during the period, the administration forecast.

Strong wind, cold weather to continue for much of China

    BEIJING, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Strong wind and temperature dips up to 12 degrees Celsius are expected in northern and eastern regions in China on Tuesday, the country's Central Meteorological Station (CMS) said on Monday.

    From Monday night until Tuesday night, Inner Mongolia, northwest China, northeast China, and north China are to see strong wind with temperatures falling by 6-8 degrees Celsius. Full story

China expects fresh strong cold snap

    BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Another strong cold wave is expected to hit China's central, eastern and southern regions from Friday to next Tuesday, bringing snowstorms and temperature plummet to these areas, China's Central Meteorological Station (CMS) said Thursday.

    The cold snap would be much stronger than the previous one, which caused up to 18 degrees Celsius temperature fall in China's northern regions from last Saturday. The fresh one is expected to bring icy weather to the country's southern areas, the CMS said. Full story

Chinese vice premier urges more efforts to counter cold wave disaster

    BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu Tuesday called for greater efforts to fight droughts and flood disasters, and especially the disasters brought by the recent cold snap.

    Relevant authorities at all levels should step up monitoring and warning on the cold wave, maintain smooth flow of traffic and a sound circulation of necessities for the public, strengthen anti-disaster technological guidance on agriculture and animal husbandry to ensure vegetable and other farm byproducts supply, soas to maintain a good economic and social order, said Hui at a meeting jointly held by the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and the National Disaster Reduction Commission. Full story

Beijing sees heaviest daily snowfall in nearly six decades 

An ice-sweeping vehicle cleans a plane at the Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 3, 2010. Some departure flights were delayed and some were canceled due to the heavy snowfall in Beijing on Sunday. (Xinhua/Ma Ruzhuang) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Jan.4 (Xinhua) -- China's capital reported the heaviest daily snowfall in nearly six decades on Sunday, local meteorological bureau said Monday.

    At 10 p.m. Sunday, a major meteorological observatory in the southern suburbs of Beijing recorded a daily snowfall of 10 millimeters, the largest amount in one day since 1951, the bureau noted.Full story 

China sends agricultural experts to guide anti-disaster work

    BEIJING, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Agriculture dispatched Sunday seven working teams to oversee and guide agricultural work in major wheat and vegetable production bases in north China as a strong cold wave had swept across the region from Saturday.

    Snowstorms and a temperature plunge caused by a strong clod snap had hit a vast range of areas in the country, bringing adverse effects on the agricultural production. Full story

HK airport flights struck by Beijing snow

    HONG KONG, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Over 30 flights were canceled or delayed at Hong Kong International Airport on Sunday, due to heavy snow in the country's capital city of Beijing.

    By 21:00 (1300 GMT) local time, seven departure flights to Beijing were canceled and 10 delayed. As for arrivals, eight were canceled and nine delayed, said the spokesman of the department of News Relations from the Hong Kong's Airport Authority. Flights to other cities including Dalian and Tianjing were also affected by the bad weather. Full story

Heavy snow hits north China, disrupting traffic, classes

People queue for entering the subway station in front of the Beijing Railway Station in Beijing, China, Jan. 3, 2010.(Xinhua/Xing Guangli) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Beijing traffic authority has decided to go all out to deal with possible traffic jams or accidents during peak hours Monday morning after a snow storm Sunday caused traffic breakdown in the national capital.

    "Low temperature and ice-covered roads are expected to severely affect local traffic on Monday morning," said Song Jianguo, head of the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau. Full story

China extends alert against cold wave, heavy snow

People ride electric bicycles in the street during a snowfall in Hohhot, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Jan. 3, 2010. China's Central Meteorological Station (CMS) on Sunday morning extended the warning against strong cold wave, snowstorm and heavy fog by issuing another orange alert.(Xinhua/Li Yunping) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- China's Central Meteorological Station (CMS) on Sunday morning extended the warning against strong cold wave, snowstorm and heavy fog by issuing another orange alert. 
    
    Affected by the strong cold snap, temperature was to fall by 8 to 12 degrees Celsius in central and western Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, eastern parts of northwest China, north China, Guizhou and Chongqing from Sunday to Monday, according to the CMS. Full story

Alert goes orange for cold wave as northern Chinese cities embrace new year's first snow

Photo taken on Jan. 2, 2009, shows a snow-covered car with the characters "the snow falls" in Beijing, China. Beijingers woke up to see the first snowfall of the New Year Saturday, after nearly two months of drought. (Xinhua/Lu Peng) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- A strong cold wave will sweep most of China and force down temperature in the coming two days beginning on Saturday as northern Chinese cities such as Beijing, Tianjin and others in Hebei Province embraced new year's first snowfall.

    The Central Meteorological Station (CMS) issued an orange alert for the cold wave, warning that most areas in north, central and east China would suffer temperature drops ranging from 8 to 12 degrees Celsius. Full story