Before the snow stopped last night, 1.5 millimetres of it fell on the city. Sudden snowfall on December 7 last year turned Beijing into a huge car park as vehicles were forced to a standstill. Many people had to walk home after work because that had become the fastest means of travel.

However, there was no traffic standstill yesterday, although buses and cars moved a little more slowly than normal.

Beijing resident Qin Yannan said: "I had thought there might be difficulties with the traffic because the situation last year was so bad, but it seems that everything has been going smoothly today."

Xinhua News Agency said the traffic management department of the Beijing Public Security Bureau took various measures yesterday to ensure order with the city's traffic.

An additional 457 traffic police were sent to more than 300 temporary locations across the city.

After it snowed, different municipal departments, including those covering public security department and meteorology, co-ordinated with one another to guarantee a smooth flow of traffic.

For many Beijing residents, yesterday's snow provided a delightful breath of fresh air.

"I think it's a wonderful thing to walk in the falling snow, see the world turn white, and breathe the fresh air," said Tan Rui, another Beijing resident.

However, the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in the city's Chaoyang District yesterday received several injured people who had fallen on the slippery streets.

Yesterday's maximum temperature in Beijing was freezing point, while the minimum was minus 5°C.

(China Daily December 16, 2002)