China getting back on its feet as weather improves

By Royston Chan

China's leaders spent the eve of the Lunar New Year holiday in some of the worst-hit parts of south-central China offering consolation to residents and encouragement to relief workers.

As well as mobilising more than a million soldiers and reservists to combat the snow and ice, the state has cranked up its propaganda machine to lift spirits for the most important day in the calendar.

In Chenzhou, a city in the central province of Hunan that has been one of the most badly affected areas, state media said homes were getting power back after being blacked out for 11 days.

About 1,000 electricity pylons and poles have collapsed around Chenzhou under the weight of ice and snow, effectively destroying the local power grid.

State media reported that power had been restored partly or fully to 164 of 169 counties battered by blizzards across vast swathes of central, southern and eastern China -- parts of the country simply not prepared for severe winter weather.

On Wednesday alone, as a severe-weather alert was lifted, the rail network carried 2.54 million passengers, the government said. Highways were back to normal and only one airport, in Guizhou, was closed.

The economic planning agency said nearly 2,300 mines were working through the holidays to rebuild coal stocks that were depleted as snow and ice snarled the railways. As of Tuesday, state-owned power stations had 10 days' supply, it said.

"If we are united as one, working in strength, we can overcome the current difficulties and ensure victory all round," he said.

(Writing by Alan Wheatley)