Can anyone in China update me on the current situation re Hydro Outages/Transportation? I have been reading articles posted on the China Daily which are rather ominous.
Indications are that transport is at a standstill and people are without hydro. I want to know if everything is as bad as it sounds.

I am flying into Beijing on Saturday. Supposed to be meeting a friend who has to find his way from below Wenzhou. He was planning on travelling up to Beijing by bus.

What does the situation look like from there?

Thanks for any insider info you can give me. I will be trying to communicate with my friend, however, I fear he may be caughtup in one of the power outages as he is in a small town 45 min. from Wenzhou.

You won't have problem getting into Beijing and go around there.

Your friend won't be there, that's for sure.

Wenzhou is in Zhejiang Province, which itself isn't hit hard. But roads leading north of there are covered in snow and ice, and most major train stations are packed with tens of thousands of people.

It is as bad as you read, traveling from Wenzhou to Beijing by bus is impossible, in normal weather it'll take a couple of days, and trains are packed too. Only way he can get to Beijing is to get a flight from somewhere in Zhejiang Province.

The weather situation is very very bad according to this morning's TV report here in Bangkok (forgot whether it was CNN, BBC or Al Jazeera that I was watching).

The total number of travelers during this Chinese New Year's season is estimated to be a whopping 177 million. Many many people are going home for New Year's.

One man interviewed was saying that he saw some people, including children, fall and get trampled, not in a mad rush, but just because things are so crowded at the airports. I believe this was in Beijing Airport, but can't be sure. Shelters are filling up, food is getting scarce, people are openly criticizing the government and the Chinese PM has come out and issued a public apology.

Stay tuned!

My DS just e-mailed saying the ERs and hospitals in Shanghai are overcrowded from people suffering slip and fall broken bones, they are not used to walking in heavy snow.

Just spoke to my friend this morning in Shanghai. She said its so unusual and the snow has not been like this so far south in years. She is lucky and booked her flights to Xian on Friday as now its impossinble to get many places with the snow. The new years Exodus is just making it even worse. I am back over in late Feb and just cringing thinking about the cold over there...must get myself a new coat before I go!

Worst snowstorm(s) in 50 years. That says a lot.

SiobhanP -- Maybe you can get yourself a new coat when you arrive there! Btw, have you figured out the place you bought the duvet covers?

I'm originally from Michigan so consider the source, but the weather in Shanghai isn't what I'd consider bad. True, there has been some snow on the ground, but it's only maybe 4-5 inches on the ground at one time and it has pretty much melted now. It's not even that cold. I live 20 minutes from Shanghai Pudong airport and went to my mailbox without a coat on the snowiest day.

Problem is that snow usually doesn't stick so people aren't used to walking/biking/driving/anything in the snow. They also don't have equipment necessary to remove snow so you see people around sweeping it with brooms and the city running their street sweeper machines. There were simply big flakes in the air last week and our office sent people home early! Nice thing is that I'm able to get places fast because there aren't many bikes and there seem not to be as many mopeds or cars on the road. Friday I even arrived to my office in Puxi earlier than normal (via car) even though I left at the same time.

The govt is asking people not to travel. Huge schedule delays and I think there are still power outages in some places. Air travel is likely the only option during this time and that may cease to be an option as those who can afford it switch from train/bus to air. The airports in Shanghai keep closing as do destination airports so I'd expect delays via air as well. It will take quite awhile to get sorted. A colleague was at Shanghai's Hongqiao airport last Monday when flights had been canceled and people were very irate, yelling and getting rowdy so he just left and canceled his trip.