Beijing freezes in the city’s coldest December on record
BEIJING is shivering through the coldest December in more than seven decades as sub-zero conditions envelop central China, bringing snowstorms and record-breaking temperatures.
A weather observatory in the Chinese capital recorded more than 300 hours of freezing temperatures since Dec 11, more than in any other year since records began in 1951.
The city saw nine consecutive days with temperatures below -10C, the official Beijing Daily newspaper reported.
With a severe cold snap affecting much of the country, people across China are searching for ways to keep warm.
Online, Chinese citizens posted photos of boiling hotpot, a dish synonymous with cold weather in China.
“It’s been too cold in Beijing lately,” one user wrote. “Let’s eat hotpot!”
In Shanghai, where temperatures reached -7C, some schools were not equipped with heaters.
Teachers encouraged students to wear down jackets to school rather than uniforms.
Pupils were also taken outside to exercise during breaks, “especially to warm their hands before writing,” one Shanghai school staff member told The Paper, a state-backed online media outlet. Other schools prepared hot tea for all arriving students.
In Shandong, snowfall reached a record high of 29 inches, while temperatures in the north reached lows of -40C.
The extreme weather prompted Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, to mobilise an “all-out” emergency response earlier this month as heavy rain and snow shut motorways and impacted transportation and power supplies.
Temperatures began to rise above zero over the weekend, the China Weather Network said.