Weather Update

It is not snowing in Xiamen, being close to the ocean and as far south as it is saves Xiamen from any of that. But the weather has been miserable for the last ten days, heavily overcast with rain or drizzle and temperatures in the 40s.

Provinces to the west and south of here, Guangdong in particular, where the elevation is higher have been getting a lot of snow and cold and as has been illustrated in the media, China is a mess.  Complicating things is the holiday, Spring Festival, where everyone with any chance at all, tries to get back to their ancestral home city or village to visit family.  It’s the one time of the year they can.  There are few other breaks of any duration. 

Having a billion and a third people and having tens of millions of them working far from home (because that’s where the work is for many), means that tens of millions take plane, train or bus — or all three — to get from their temporary place of work and living to their homes and families.  Throw some ice and snow into the middle of that, in places like Georgia or Mississippi where ice, snow and cold are rare and you get what we’ve got over here.

People travel a long way the hard way.  Some of my students here have daunting journeys home.  One has a three hour plane ride, a four hour train ride and then takes a bus for half a day.  Another takes a thirteen hour train ride and then spends a day on a bus to get home.  Getting home in China takes longer for many people that getting home from China for me

There is no inside heating here other than the occasional electric space heater.  Stores leave the doors open; the big overhead garage doors in most smaller shops and store clerks stand around bundled up in coats, sweaters, gloves and scarves.  It’s impossible to tell a shopped from a store clerk.  Restaurants are mostly the same and even personal apartments are often found with windows and doors open and people just bundled up.  

 Longjohns are popular and sold every where. 

Friends here in Xiamen say it’s the worts winter they can remember, for thirty years or more.  The Chinese say it’s the worst in fifty or sixty years for most of the country.  Even  Hong Kong, where I will be for Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) is about ten degrees (F) colder than normal for this time of year.   In the ’50s as a kid I remember one day waiting for the school bus in Poughkeepsie and it was 40 below (look it up, it really was), and dry as anything so you squeaked when you walked on the snow.  Those times may be coming back — an odd side effect of global warming. 

I don’t think I’ll like that much.