China: Hope and despair at Chinese New Year

Chua Chin Hon, Straits Times 7 Feb 08;

Power is restored to storm-hit regions but millions of stranded workers give up hope of going home for New Year

BEIJING - EMERGENCY workers yesterday delivered a ray of hope to countless families digging in for a cold and dark Chinese New Year holiday by restoring power to regions battered by the worst winter storms in decades.

Residents in some hard-hit areas in southern Guizhou and central Hunan provinces have already gone without power for 12 consecutive days. Many are relying only on candles, radios and emergency rations to get them through the year's most important celebration.

But good news arrived for many of them yesterday when power was restored by 5pm, just hours before the all-important nianyefan, or reunion dinner.

The official Xinhua news agency said power was restored in 162 snow-hit counties across the country, including the southern Hunan's Chenzhou city, one of the cities worst hit by the weather crisis.

Local power lines in these counties were successfully connected to the state grid. Another seven counties, however, were still relying on temporary power sources.

Xinhua also did not say if power was completely or only partially restored in these affected regions, where some local power networks were completely destroyed by heavy snow and rain fall.

'Relief work has come to a critical point. We should not be slack, but keep pushing it forward,' Premier Wen Jiabao said during a flight on to southern Guizhou, another province badly-hit by the storms, on Tuesday.

'Only when the masses are reassured, can the country be at peace. Only when the country is at peace, can the leaders be relieved.'

China began a week-long celebration for the Spring Festival yesterday after earlier amending its holiday calendar to include the Chinese New Year Eve.

This was done in the hope that more people would get home in time for the reunion dinner with their families.

But the mood across China is anything but festive this year as a devastating three-week weather crisis shut down wide swathes of the power and transportation networks in southern, central and eastern China.

Millions were stranded by record snow and rain which had been falling since mid-January.

Round-the-clock relief efforts by an army of soldiers, technicians and tanks helped the paralysed transportation network slowly grind back into operation this week.

This prompted millions of travellers to hop on board planes, trains and buses in the hope of getting home in time.

But many others have simply given up hope of returning home for the holidays after queuing for tickets in the freezing rain and snow for days on end.

According to the official Xinhua news agency, more than 12 million migrant workers in southern Guangdong province and 120,000 in eastern Shanghai were unable to return home and had to stay behind in their adopted cities.

These workers are mostly from the country's poor hinterland. The annual Chinese New Year break is their only chance of seeing their family all year.

'Millions of Chinese had to say 'sorry' to their loved ones,' Xinhua said yesterday.

State media reports in recent days said the authorities and factory owners had tried to placate frustrated workers by offering them free meals, lucky draws and discounted tickets to parks and entertainment outlets.

Large numbers of grassroots organisations were also mobilised to organise performances and dinner gatherings for the workers. But many say the only thing they really want is to be with their family.

'I'm feeling very lonely and isolated here,' migrant worker Tan Xiaoling, who is stranded in southern Shenzhen city by the weather, told news agency Agence France-Presse.

'My children call me every day and ask when Papa will be home. I really miss them.'

There is also little cheer among residents who do not need to travel but who are, nonetheless, enduring their most miserable Chinese New Year in memory.

A military cargo plane had to send an emergency delivery of 500,000 candles to central Hubei province's Enshi prefecture after 31,000 families lost their power supply. To date, eight million candles and torches have been delivered to disaster areas across the country.

In Chenzhou, which has already gone without power for 12 days, prices of coal and charcoal have gone up 10 times as residents used the fuel to keep themselves warm.

Another hot-selling item there is the long-forgotten transistor radio.

'Chenzhou is pitch black at night, so the best way to pass the time is to snuggle into the blankets and listen to the radio broadcast,' Xinhua said in a dispatch yesterday from the snowed-in city.

'This year, the radio has become a must-have Chinese New Year purchase.'

Power restored to 87% of counties and worst-hit city Chenzhou
Snowstorms left at least 80 dead and 80b yuan in losses
Business Times 7 Feb 08;

(SHANGHAI) China restored electricity to the southern city of Chenzhou and 87 per cent of counties in the country after the worst snowstorms in more than 50 years brought chaos before this week's Chinese New Year holiday.

Relief work is at a 'critical point', Premier Wen Jiabao said on Tuesday on a flight to south-western China, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Chenzhou, a city of four million people, was the worst hit by the storms, losing power for 10 days.

'Only when the masses are reassured, can the country be in peace,' Mr Wen said. 'Only when the country is in peace, can the leaders be relieved.' The snow blocked roads and railways, preventing millions of migrant workers from returning home for their traditional New Year break. Railway stations in Guangzhou, Shanghai and other cities were operating normally yesterday and passenger backlogs had been cleared, the State Council - China's Cabinet - said on its website.

Most stretches of the nation's main highways had also been cleared by late Tuesday, the council said. All major airports were operating as normal, it added.

More than 12 million of the 30 million migrant workers in southern Guangdong province decided not to leave for the New Year holiday, Xinhua reported. The railway station in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, resumed normal operations at noon on Tuesday, after 800,000 people were stranded during the peak of delays. About 3.5 million rail passengers have departed Guangdong province for the holiday, Xinhua reported.

State Grid Corp, the nation's biggest electricity distributor, sent 694 mobile power generators to Chenzhou and other cities in the south, the council said late on Tuesday.

Full or partial power services resumed in 148 of the 170 counties and cities that experienced blackouts, Xinhua reported, citing the national disaster relief headquarters.

Eight counties were not expected to have electricity by 6 pm local time yesterday, when Chinese families gather to celebrate New Year's Eve, according to the council.

China deployed tanks to deliver supplies to remote villages, introduced price controls and boosted coal shipments to spur power production to cope with the storms before the start of the nation's most important holiday.

Residents in Enshi Prefecture in Hubei province, where more than 31,000 households were without power on Tuesday, received a shipment of 500,000 candles by military cargo plane on Monday, Xinhua reported.

The snowstorms have killed more than 80 people and caused direct economic losses of about 80 billion yuan (S$15.8 billion), according to the Red Cross Society of China, Xinhua said.

Most parts of the country were forecast to have clear weather yesterday and today, the China Meteorological Administration said on its website. The southern provinces of Hunan and Guangxi may see more snows starting next Monday, it said.

Hunan, Jiangxi and Guizhou provinces were the worst hit by the storms, the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planning agency, said last Sunday.

Mr Wen visited passengers stranded in Changsha, capital of Hunan province, on Jan 29 and in Guangzhou on Jan 30.

Chinese government officials who fail to perform their duties in battling the snowstorms face severe penalties, the Communist Party of China's Organisation Department said earlier this week, according to Xinhua.

The department ordered greater efforts to rebuild homes and ensure a happy holiday for those in the hardest-hit areas. The snowstorms destroyed or damaged at least a million homes, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has said\. \-- Bloomberg

Millions on move in China on Lunar New Year's Eve
Channel NewsAsia 7 Feb 08;

BEIJING - Millions of Chinese rushed home Wednesday to be with family on Lunar New Year's Eve but for many there would be little to celebrate after the worst weather in 100 years in places.

On the last day of the Year of the Pig, one of the biggest mass movements of people anywhere in the world was taking place along rail and road links newly restored for what is the biggest holiday in the Chinese calendar.

But those who had not managed to get a ticket home were resigned to spending the holiday away from loved ones as the world's most populous nation welcomed the Year of the Rat.

"Millions of Chinese had to say 'sorry' to their loved ones," state-run Xinhua news agency said.

The reason was three weeks of severe winter weather, hitting some parts of China with the most prolonged and disruptive snow storms in decades, seemingly catching the government unprepared and even surprising state meteorologists.

The freak weather came at the worst possible time for the transport system, ahead of the New Year's rush when 200 million migrant workers were trying to go home for what is a rare time to savour in a life of often hard toil.

The elements have turned kinder since, with the national meteorological administration on Wednesday lifting a severe weather alert across the affected areas in central, southern and eastern China, although it remains chilly.

But while most key transport arteries reopened this week, the backlog of passengers that had built up meant not all could get the tickets they wanted.

In the southern province of Guangdong, whose plants and sweatshops employ up to 30 million migrants from all corners of China, as many as 12 million had decided to stay in their dormitories, bracing for a bleak Lunar New Year.

This was repeated elsewhere up the east coast where wealthy cities employ people from poorer parts of China. In Shanghai, 120,000 migrant workers had heeded official calls to stay put, according to Xinhua.

The weather has made this one of the most miserable Lunar New Year periods in memory by disrupting power supplies, causing millions to face a festival season with little or no access to electricity and water.

China's air force Wednesday airlifted 100 tonnes of candles to the cities of Guiyang, Changsha and Nanchang in the south where people were still without power, Xinhua said.

After a feverish effort, however, 162 of the 170 worst-hit counties had their power restored by Wednesday, it said in a separate report.

The power supply was being restored to Chenzhou, a city of about four million in central China's Hunan province, which had suffered blackouts for 12 days. The report gave no information on progress in restoring running water.

"If power resumes, I think I will have a shower first," Xinhua earlier quoted a Chenzhou resident, identified as Xiaotan, as saying.

However, the government warned that much remained to be done in getting hard-hit areas back on their feet.

"Relief work has come to a critical point. We should not be slack, but keep pushing it forward," Premier Wen Jiabao said Tuesday, as he toured the southwestern province of Guizhou, one of the affected areas.

"Only when the masses are reassured can the country be in peace. Only when the country is in peace can the leaders be relieved," Wen was quoted as saying.

At least 105 million out of the country's 1.3 billion population have been affected by the inclement weather and more than 80 killed, the government said.

The government planned to transport 400,000 tonnes of vegetables to affected areas as the transportation problems have hit food deliveries, driving up prices.- AFP /ls