The region has already seen snow, between January 5 and yesterday, according to the Central Meteorological Observatory.

Meteorological experts said a cold front reached the northern parts of north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the northern parts of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Sunday morning and was moving in a southeasterly direction.

The cold air is expected to influence most parts of the areas in the east of northwest China.

Most areas will see between 1 and 4 cm snow, while parts of the provinces of Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu and Hubei will get blizzards with between 5 to 15 cm snowfall.

The cold front will lead to a drop in temperature of between 8 and 14 degrees centigrade. In some parts of north and northeast China, the temperature will be 15 to 18 degrees centigrade lower.

On Friday evening, snow visited north China, the Yellow-Huaihe river valley and the provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Hubei.

“Timely snow promises a good harvest,” a proverb says.

Yang said the snow, which covered fields of wheat, will kill insects and help the crop resist the cold front.

The snowfall, the first of the new century, turned the Chinese capital into a winter wonderland.

According to Yang, the snow was 5 to 10 mm deep in most parts of the city. In some parts, it reached 12 mm.

Many residents who had been feeling imprisoned by the cold winds, rushed out to welcome the snow, despite the fact that the temperature was low.

Laughter could be heard everywhere, although there were some complaints about the difficulties of walking in the snow.

Snowmen made by children could be seen in many places. Employees at Yuyuantan Park, Taoranting Park and other major parks confirmed that there were lots of visitors.

The Purple Bamboo Park, a well-known place to enjoy the snow, sold 4,000 tickets between 6 am and 2 pm.

Usually in winter, between 200 and 300 tickets are sold each day, according to Xing Yajuan, a booking clerk at the park.

One student, throwing snowballs at his friends, said, “We are taking our end-of-term examinations in a few days, and if it was not for the snow, my mum would make me stay inside revising.”

The snow also gave the city a romantic air. At 11 pm on Saturday night in Huixin Dongjie street in Chaoyang District, a boy gave his girlfriend a piggyback. Such scenes were commonplace across the city.

The snow also caused problems. There were many car accidents because of the slippery roads. The “122” hotline for reporting accidents received 1,350 calls between midnight on Friday and 6 pm on Saturday, almost 10 times more than usual.

Meanwhile hospitals were flooded with people who had slipped and broken legs or arms. Jishuitan Hospital, famous for orthopedics, registered at least 70 such patients on Saturday. Doctors believed they would receive even more over the next few days.

Many residents swept away some of the snow themselves and the municipality has already poured more than 20,000 cubic meters of anti-slip chemicals onto the roads.

At the Capital International Airport on Saturday, 80 percent of scheduled flights were delayed because of the snow

(China Daily 01/08/2001)