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 commiserating with residents and encouraging 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, the lights were gradually coming back on after an 11-day blackout.
For Li Hua, 34, the power came back on just in time for her to prepare the traditional New Year's Eve meal for her family. "I was so happy, and I felt so good when I was cooking the reunion dinner," she said.
"If they have electricity and we do not, that's really unfair. We should all be treated equally," Liu, 40, said.
"Every day we carry five or six buckets of water up to our home from the fire hydrant. I hope the city government can do something about this. It's so inconvenient," Zhao, 45, said as she washed clothes at a hydrant near her home.
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; Editing by David Fox)
