Across China: Freezing weather warms Nanjing's heart

NANJING, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of thousands of people united to clear snow and ice from the streets of Nanjing, warming the hearts of freezing residents.

On Sunday morning, street cleaner Wang Guanpeng, 59, put aside his shovel and sat down on the snow-covered roadside. He intended to just take a break and drink some water, but he fell asleep, curled up in the cold.

Wang had been clearing snow for two days. He worked from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, eating his three meals on the street.

At the same time near a bus station under the Zhongyangmen overpass, a row of soldiers slept side-by-side. They had received the order to clear snow from the overpass early in the morning and had been working for several hours.

Unusually heavy snow has swept through central and eastern China during the past week. Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, has been covered by up to 10 centimeters of snow.

On Sunday morning, the local weather center said the snow had lessened significantly and was expected to end soon.

However, the battle to clear the snow continues. Jin Nan, one of those in charge of the snow-clearing effort, said there is still plenty of work to be done to clear snow from roads, side streets and auxiliary lanes.

The latest snow is powdery and can easily turn into ice, difficult for large snow clearing vehicles to remove. The clean up relies on deicing salt and manual labor.

Due to the large quantity of snow, the city ran out of salt and had to buy more from the city of Huai'an some 200 km away.

Xu Gang, general manager of Jiangsu Jinling Transportation Group, said the company organized over 100 trucks to ship back salt from Huai'an along snow-covered expressways.

According to the city government, around 100,000 people cleared snow on Sunday, including soldiers, urban management officers, sanitation workers, and volunteers from all walks of life.

Pang Jinshi, a 70-year-old retiree, was on the streets clearing snow with his wife. They started at 6:30 a.m. and spent several hours working.

"Although it's exhausting, it's good for my health and we have become closer to our neighbors," he said.

Louis A. Ferraresi, an manager at Changan Ford Mazda Engine Co., Ltd, had joined his colleagues in the work. He had never seen so many people clearing snow together, as back in his Michigan home, people usually cleaned their own front yard and the government did the rest. He found it a good way to make friends.

On Sunday afternoon, a police car transporting a sick child from Anhui Province to a hospital in Nanjing needed help. The car was equipped with snow chains so it could not run fast on the roads of Nanjing, which had been cleared of snow. The Nanjing traffic bureau sent a car to the scene and the child was swiftly taken to hospital.

At dusk, when Xia Aiping and Xu Gang finished their work for the day, Wang Guanpeng and his colleagues were still carrying away the snow that been removed from roads.

On Sunday night, the city government issued a letter of thanks, saying that the spirit and strength of the people reflected by the battle to clean up the snow will be remembered for many years. Enditem