China : 2 billion holiday trips during Chinese New Year threatened by snowstorms

China is battling to prevent the worst snowstorms in half a century from derailing the nation's most important annual holiday, as troops work to clear roads to allow tens of millions of migrant workers to return home. Roads, railways and power supplies across much of central, southern and eastern China were paralyzed late yesterday [30 Jan 2008], a week before the Lunar New Year holiday. More than 750,000 houses have been damaged or destroyed and at least half of the provinces have faced blackouts caused by the storms. The snowstorms have killed 38 people since Jan. 10 and caused 32.7 billion yuan ($4.54 billion) of direct economic losses, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said. About 149,000 houses have collapsed and 602,000 have been damaged.

More than 2 billion bus, train and plane journeys are made during the six weeks surrounding the Lunar New Year, or spring festival. Authorities in Guangdong have already advised migrant workers to give up family reunion plans and stay in the cities, where they plan to show free movie and stage parties.

The government ordered shops to stop raising food prices after the cost of cabbages, radishes and egg plants jumped more than 50% since the start of the blizzards, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planning body. The Ministry of Commerce ordered supplies of pork to be released from reserves.

- It looks like China is facing one problem after another nowadays, with record inflation, diesel shortages, a record power shortage, a plunging stock market.

And now this, a record snowstorm that threatens to prevent people from going home for Chinese New Year, the most important holiday of the year to the Chinese - and which, for good measure, is wiping out crops and pushing up already inflated food prices at the same time.

The people sure aren't going to be very happy about these things. The Chinese government had better get things going quickly or risk a possible Second Cultural Revolution when things reach a tipping point of some sort. Hope this all works out, but it's going to be difficult with one thing piling up after another.

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