The heavy snow that began to sweep across northern, central and eastern China on Tuesday shut down airports, cut transportation routes and slowed traffic across the region.

At least 10 airports in Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Henan and Jiangsu provinces and Inner Mongolia shut down due to the weather, said sources from Civil Aviation of China.

Around 10,000 passengers had to wait at Beijing Capital International Airport as the heaviest snowfall this year hit at 2:00 AM yesterday and delayed more than 80 flights. The flights gradually resumed operations in the afternoon as the snow lightened.

In Shenyang, Liaoning Province, the temperature fell to -28 C. The freezing weather left cars stranded on the side of the road.

More than 500 trucks carrying coal from Qinyang in Shanxi Province were stuck on the icy roads yesterday while another 7,000 had to suspend services, reducing coal transport by about 100,000 tons.

At the same time, the price of vegetables in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province, rose slightly due to transportation difficulties.

However, the snowfall will be a gift for farmers in Anhui Province, where the winter wheat had been growing too fast due to an unusually warm winter.

Experts say the snow will help hold back the crop's growth and might bring about a better harvest next year.

For those longing for a white Christmas, the snowfall was also welcomed. Children in Beijing used the opportunity to enjoy taking photos or playing snowball games in schoolyards.

While enjoying the beautiful landscape and fresh air brought about by the snowfall, Beijing residents also had to contend with slow rush hour traffic.

Thanks to the timely emergency plan launched by the city's traffic management and public sanitation departments, the traffic did not grind to a complete standstill as it did three years ago.

A total of 3,000 tons of chemicals were used to melt the accumulated snow, said Wu Fanxiu, an official from the Beijing Transportation Management Bureau.

China Meteorological Observatory forecast that, in the coming two days, most parts of north China, northern parts of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and parts of Anhui and Jiangsu provinces as well as eastern parts of the Tibet Autonomous Region will continue to see snowy weather.

Coming rains may bring some trouble to traffic in northern China and the Yellow and Huaihe river valleys, but it will help relieve the drought in these regions, an engineer with the China Meteorological Observatory told China Daily.

(China Daily December 23, 2004)