More than 6cm of snow fell in Beijing between early Saturday and Sunday morning. The northern provinces of Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Hubei, Hebei and Inner Mongolia also received heavy snowfall, official reports said.
The snow is widely considered as a good omen for a bumper harvest this year. On the streets of Beijing, people could be seen making snowmen.
Meteorological experts say the heavy snow will also help alleviate the drought in north China.
The snowfall led to chaos on the streets, several highways linking Beijing and nearby cities were cut off and several accidents were reported.
Calls received by police rose ten-fold, the Beijing Youth Daily said.
It said many buses were off the roads and only trains were running normally.
Beijing municipality mobilized about 200,000 people for snow-clearing on Saturday. Shops on main roads were ordered to clear the snow in front of their premises or pay stiff fines of 500 yuan (US$60.24).
Despite these measures, 105 people were taken to hospital with injuries. Doctors usually handle about 150 fracture cases a day after snowfall in Beijing.
(China Daily 01/08/2001)
