The cold front that has fallen on northern China has persisted for nearly a month. Residents in these areas have had a freezing lunar New Year festival. In the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, low temperatures have caused havoc for over 40, 000 people.

Photo shows icicles hanging from handrails at a port in Yantan, east China's Shandong Province. [Xinhua]

People in Inner Mongolia are enduring a temperature drop of 17 degrees Celsius. In Hulubuir, five banners and cities have seen their new record low temperatures over the past 40 days. Genhe city for one, has felt a freeze of minus 43 degrees Celsius.

And the icy season does not come to an end there. Local weather authorities have forecasted that the region will soon experience a further plunge of 8 to 10 degrees Celsius.

The National Meteorological Centre says that a nationwide cold front has swept across the country since Sunday. And the freezing weather is expected to persist in Central and Eastern China.

The weather watchdog has also rang the alarm for strong winds in the eastern coastal provinces.

The high pressure that has frozen the north hemisphere has been weakening since January. But it is still pushing the cold front over to China. China will continue feeling the hit over the next 10 days.

Huang Xiaoyu from National Meteorological Center, said, "The high pressure is getting weak, so the northern areas will see the temperature bouncing back from Wednesday. But the southern provinces will have to bear the low temperature for some more days. "

The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Finance, have already jointly distributed 6.3 billion yuan in winter relief funds, to provide food and clothing for people in weather-stricken areas.

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