The heavy snowfalls that started Thursday in Shanghai and south China's Guangdong Province have caused problems in local transportation.

The most important communication hub in east China, Shanghai canceled 183 flights and delayed 133 flights on Thursday due to the bad weather. Thousands of passengers were held up at the Pudong or Hongqiao international airports.

The main cause of the cancellations and delays was the time-consuming work of de-icing the planes bodies, said Qiang Weizhong from the Pudong International Airport.

The current temperature in Shanghai is minus 5 degrees Celsius. A number of flights were held Friday because of Thursday's disorder, Qiang said.

According to the Shanghai Municipal Communication Directing Center, the expressways connecting Shanghai with the nearby cities of Nanjing and Hangzhou were closed Friday morning. Almost all the bus routes from Shanghai had stopped running.

An expressway headed north from Zhuhai in Guangdong was closed Friday morning because of the heavy snow.

The temperature in the northeastern part of Guangdong will fall to minus 2 degrees Celsius during the New Year holiday, much colder than it usually gets there.

The provincial government has set up shelters in the cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai for the homeless and senior citizens.

(Xinhua News Agency December 31, 2004)