02/20/2015, 00.00
CHINA
Send to a friend

Beijing wakes up to New Year covered with snow

According to popular tradition, snow on the first day of the New Lunar Year brings "abundant fruit" in the coming year. The departure of migrants empties the capital and makes it livable. The air quality, however, again exceeds the danger threshold after enormous New Year fireworks spectacle.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - Beijing has woken up on the first day of the Lunar New Year - dedicated to Goat - covered with snow. Expected next February 21, a light snow started to fall on the Chinese capital from the afternoon of the 19, covering the city and helping to combat environmental pollution. The weather event was received with joy, because according to tradition snow at the beginning of the New Year means "abundant fruit" in the year to come.

Beijing is also enjoying an abnormal absence of residents. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the city to return to their home areas to celebrate the New Year with their families, and the city arteries - usually clogged till choking point - are eerily empty. Public transport services and public offices, usually impossible to access, are also functioning regularly.

However, the snow has not managed to eradicate the particulate pollutants in the air, at the highest level after the fireworks that lit up the sky February 18, the eve of the New Lunar Year. At around 12 pm today, the level of air quality was up 145 points: according to international standards, passing the threshold of 140 is "dangerous" for those who breathe the air.

The municipal traffic authorities have also been forced to close some highways in the suburbs, where the snow - along with morning fog and smog - has reduced the visibility to less than 500 meters. However, the absence of about 50% of the normal population has helped the management of road traffic.

 

TAGs
Send to a friend
Printable version
CLOSE X
See also
The Far East celebrates the Year of the Goat with trips home, lobsters and political controversy
18/02/2015
White House to stop Beijing's "imperialist" policy in the South China Sea
24/01/2017 15:55
Restrictions on slash and burn, fireworks to contain pollution this Lunar New Year
08/02/2024 17:10
Chinese New Year to usher in the Year of the Dog
15/02/2018 14:19
Chinese New Year: some 2.5 billion domestic trips expected
04/02/2015


Newsletter

Subscribe to Asia News updates or change your preferences

Subscribe now
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”