China swings into actions to tackle record cold wave

Beijing: It was still dark at 4 a.m. in Zhengzhou, capital city of central China’s Henan Province, 54-year-old Li Sulian, a cleaner, started her work near an overpass.

In the freezing wind, she dispersed snow-melting agent on the road, before clearing the ice with a spade.

Li is among tens of thousands of people in China who are helping to ensure that life carries on as normal for residents after the country being swept by cold wave over the past several days.

Northeast China’s Jilin Province issued a new yellow alert for a cold wave on Saturday, with many parts of the province forecasted to experience a drop of temperature by 10 to 12 degrees Celcius.

Heating companies in the province are making efforts to ensure that the local people could enjoy heating services in the cold days. The Chuncheng Heating Company Limited provides heating to more than 500,000 users in Changchun, capital of Jilin. According to Li Yeji, head of the company’s production department, their production, dispatch, customer service and emergency repair personnel are on duty 24 hours a day to solve problems on a timely basis for its users.

The Jilin power supply company under the State Grid Corporation of China has beefed up maintenance of the rebuilt power supply network, and carried out inspections for hidden hazard in Shulan City which was hit by flood in early August. At the same time, the company pledged to reduce waiting time for power repair service to 30 minutes.

High-tech machines were used in the process. For instance, at a transformer substation in Baishan City of Jilin, a robot was checking the equipment amid wind and snow, while the operator Yang Boyu was sitting in an office about six kilometers away, observing the computer screen.

He was controlling three robots who were inspecting two transformer substations. “During the bad weather, the use of robots at multiple substations at the same time improves the accuracy and timeliness of inspections,” he told Xinhua. In the mountainous areas, sometimes he had to travel for an hour to check some equipment. Now he could check them with a simple click of his fingers thanks to the use of computers.

Like Baishan, many parts of China was blanketed by snow in the past few days, which meant traffic was affected by ice.

The adjacent Liaoning Province also saw a plunge of temperatures with the eastern part experiencing a drop of more than 20 degrees Celcius. The China Railway Shenyang Group Co., Ltd. has mobilized more than 8,000 staff members to monitor the road conditions and clean the ice and snow on time at railway switches, while checkups are conducted at important sections such as the bridges and tunnels.

Starting from Thursday night, 37 vehicles were dispatched to clean ice along the tracks, and close to 500 workers were ready in case of an emergency repair work.

In China’s capital Beijing, according to local sources, as of 10 a.m. Saturday, at least 52 trains from its railway stations were cancelled.

Due to the shortage of taxis as a result of bad road condition, passengers had to wait longer in the railway stations. The Beijing South Railway Station staff members served ginger and red sugar water, a traditional drink, to passengers to keep them warm while waiting for the taxis.

A man surnamed Wang received a steaming cup of water from a staff. “I have been travelling for many years,” he said. “This is the first time I have had ginger and red sugar water prepared especially for us.”

Passengers waiting outside the building were also lent cotton-padded coats and gloves by the railway station.

To facilitate local passengers, the Shijiazhuang Transportation Investment Development Group Co., Ltd. in the capital of north China’s Hebei Province has exempted them from paying fares when using public transportation. The free service, available from Saturday to Jan. 1, 2024, allows locals to take the buses and the three subway lines during its service hours.

“The roads are slippery after snow and it is dangerous to ride bicycles,” said an unnamed resident in the city. “The free-ride public transportation service is really heart-warming.”

China’s national observatory Saturday issued a blue alert, the lowest in the country’s four-tier warning system, for a cold wave that is to grip most of the country, bringing freezing temperatures and strong winds.

The National Meteorological Center warned that another cold wave is expected to affect central and eastern parts of the country from Dec. 18 to 20, dragging temperatures down by up to eight degrees Celsius.

To avoid damages on agriculture, experts had helped farmers to take measures before the cold wave hit.

In Weihui City, Henan Province, senior agronomist Meng Xianglu visited Tang Zaiqing, a worried farmer and the owner of a green house.

“I feel upset,” Tang told Meng. “Please tell me what to do.”

“We should bolster the facilities, clean the snow timely, and increase insulation, heating and lighting,” said Meng. After the talk, Tang became more confident.

Meng is one of the 70 agronomists sent to help local farmers. Apart from the agronomists, the Henan meteorological bureau together with the provincial agriculture and rural affairs jointly issued an alert, warning those involved in the farming sector to brace for strong winds, snow and cold wave.

Many netizens took to China’s Sina Weibo to express their gratitude to those who helped ensure life went on as normal during the extreme weather. In fact, the hard-working “helpers” were also warmed by others.

Li Sulian in Zhengzhou finished her work at 6 a.m., when the ice on the section of her road was almost cleared. She then joined her colleagues in a small house near the overpass set up especially for outdoor workers.

With an air conditioner, the house was cozy. Boiling pear-and-sugar water, instant noodles, ham, medicines and gloves were offered there to outdoor workers such as delivery workers and cleaners. In Zhengzhou, there are 800 plus such houses.

Taking a sip of the sweet drink, Li felt warm again. “Winter is hard for us, especially rainy and snowy days,” she said. “But I have been used to it.”