Rime Scenery Attracts Visitors In Jilin (Photo : Getty Images)
Because some homeless Chinese do not want to live in formal facilities, Zhejiang Province opened more than 8,900 temporary shelters for these people. The move is timely because heavy snow started to fall in the province on Thursday.
Besides a roof over their head and protection from the winter chill, in one shelter, the Xingchen Hotel in Hangzhou, Zhejiang’s capital city, the temporary residents were given food, rooms and medical assistance.
The Civil Affairs Department of the province deployed personnel to go on street patrol and search for homeless people. Those who still refuse to go into the temporary shelter are not forced to leave the streets but are instead provided quilts and meals.
Zhejiang provincial staff also visited families in a door-to-door campaign to ensure all residents are warm for this winter. The province has so far given away about 300,000 quilts and 5,000 overcoats to needy families, reported Xinhua News Agency.
Meanwhile, even animals were also taken care of by the installation of additional heating at the birds’ bathroom. For monkeys, authorities gave the animal shelter oil lamps and large fan heater for the elephants.
Farmers have been advised to add organic fertilizers to their trees and other plants to protect further their vegetable and fruit harvest. A local farmer predicted that if the below zero temperature prevails for days, only 10 percent of veggies are expected to survive.
With wintry conditions, in some regions, the temperature plummeted to below zero by as much as 14 degrees Celsius. The provinces of Zhejiang, Guangdong, Fujian and Anhui logged record lows, while Beijing froze at -17, the capital city’s lowest in almost 30 years, said the National Meteorological Center.
It is worst in Inner Mongolia where temperature is expected to drop as low as negative 47.8 degrees Celsius. According to Daily Mail, the 2015/2016 winter is so cold that even eyebrows of Chinese could freeze.
