Northern China Snowtorm Largest Since 1959 Photographs

The heaviest snow in almost six decades is hitting northern China hard. Hundreds of thousands of travelers are stranded in airports due to the extreme weather and the country’s electric power supply system is under the greatest stress in history. A picture is worth a thousand words. The following photos are from NetEase, the popular Chinese portal website (1 & 2):

On January 3^rd, within 20 hours, Beijing experienced the heaviest snowfall since 1951, accompanied by force 5-6 winds. The highest temperature was only -9 Celsius degree. China Meteorological Administration issued both warning of cold wave and orange (high) level alert of snowstorm.

In the picture: the Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tian’anmen) after a snowfall.

Note: Click the images for larger versions of the photographs.

A vehicle cleaning snow in Tian’anmen square.

The Forbidden City in snow.

In January 3^rd, a machine was removing ice from an airplane in Beijing Capital International Airport. The snowfall made 520 flights delayed and 655 others canceled. Tens of hundreds of passengers were stranded in terminals.

Outside of Beijing Railway Station, passengers who just got off cars/buses were waiting to pass safety inspection to enter the station.

About 1400 passengers on train #1814 from Harbin to Baotou were trapped in a snowstorm in Shangdu county, Inner Mongolia. Firefighters had arrived and were digging up the carriages.

Fortunately, food, water and lightening equipment etc were sent to the spot in time. No injury to passengers or firefighters was reported.

People having a snowball fight in Beijing.

Young people were playing in the snow beside the Bird’s Nest stadium.

A man was helping a senior in a wheelchair to experience the new year’s snow.

In Tianjin. A resident wrote on snow to hope for a prosperous new year.  The Chinese word 大吉, or “da ji” in pinyin, means “highly auspicious”. Chinese people have a saying: A auspicious snow brings forth a year of abundance.

Ladies have the spirit. Beijing Woman Winter Swim Team was giving a public performance in Beijing.

The cold wave from the north is so strong that places where people rarely saw snowfalls in southern China got white too. In Wuhan, Giant Panda Weiwei sure loves getting wet!

Temperature of nine degrees below the freezing point in Beijing makes such a warm day for people living in the Northeast. In this picture, Harbin folks were playing a ball game with only swimsuits and Santa Claus hats. What’s the temperature there? Minus 32 to minus 16 Celsius degree. I wonder how Harbin people define ‘cold beer’.

In the 22^nd Harbin Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Expo, a female model was giving her incontrovertible proof that only half of human been can (and need to) survive the next ice age. More pictures on the Expo.

Just for fun, I’ve also translated a Chinese soup recipe below which is said to be useful to help the human body resist cold, to save the other half of Homo sapiens. :)

Stewed mutton with white turnip

Materials: mutton, dried red jujube without stone, white turnip, white peppers seeds, Chinese cinnamon, common fennel, salt and crystal sugar. (Don’t ask how many grams you will need. This is Chinese culinary art, not a Germany food-making science. Use your cooking instinct to determine the amount. Asking how many ounces is even worse). You may also add something else you like, for example green onion, tofu and mushroom.

Cooking method: Put scalded mutton in a terrine. Add some soy sauce, cooking wine, enough warm water, some red jujubes and a small cloth bag of white pepper seeds, Chinese cinnamon, common fennel and ginger slices. Cook with medium flames/temperature until water boils. Then turn the flames to low and let it simmer until the mutton is 80% stewed and then add some salt and crystal sugar to taste. Also put chunks of white turnip into the terrine. Cook with medium flames/temperature for about 30 minutes and it’s ready.

It’s a bit too early to send out greetings of a Chinese happy new year so here I hope everyone enjoys the snow while remaining safe and healthy!

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