The Icy Weather Clutching China

I've been reading about the horrific winter storms that are pounding China. The Chinese have mobilized 306,000 soldiers, according to China Daily. It's mind-boggling to read about and watch video of tens of thousands of people surge toward train stations, trying desperately to get home for the Lunar New Year to be with their families.

Crowds get so congested and so big that people with small children lift them above their heads to protect them from the crush of people around them. Children are separated from the parents in this way, but that is better than being crushed in a surging crowd. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told the country, from on board a train in disaster-hit Hunan, ""We have the faith, courage and ability to overcome the severe natural disaster."

I've not seen any serious coverage of the situation in China by American media, though at least the problems are being acknowledged. Engish-language media in China, though, are reporting that people are being advised to abandon their travel plans to be home during the holiday. The snow and ice are the worst in more than fifty years, they say, An article online in Al Jazeera reports that "About 260,000 people wanting head home for the Lunar New Year holiday have besieged Guangzhou station waiting for days to travel."


There was a story from January 25 of a man who saved 44 passengers from a long-distance bus that had become stuck on a snow-bound and ice-bound highway. He went to the bus, which was on a section of highway that was built to keep pedestrians off, broke through the guardrail and fencing, and led the passengers to his home. There, he arranged for food and wate for them and gave them a place to sleep. From the video, it looked very, very cramped (44 people in my home would be very, very cramped), but the passengers were ecstatic that he saved them.

Huge cities are either partially of completely without power, thanks in part to the fact that trains and trucks laden with coal cannot get to the electricty generating plants (coal is used to power many such plants in China).