Millions are stranded in China today ahead of the biggest holiday of the year as parts of the country suffered their coldest winter in a century.
Freezing storms have killed scores of people and left travellers stranded before the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival - the only opportunity many people have to take a holiday all year.
Stranded train passengers wait behind a police cordon while on their way to a railway station in China's southern city of Guangzhou Photo: Reuters
They have also brought China unwanted negative publicity six months before the Summer Olympics in Beijing.
President Hu Jintao chaired an emergency Politburo meeting yesterday for the second time in a week to discuss rescue efforts.
The China Meteorological Administration said the weather was the coldest in 100 years in central Hubei and Hunan provinces.
Roads and railways, some of which have been blocked for days, have started to move again, and fewer flights were being cancelled, state media said. But some areas were also blanketed by fog, and more snow, rain and sleet was expected later today.
China has deployed more than 300,000 troops and nearly 1.1 million militia and army reservists to get traffic moving and ensure power supplies.