Sources with the local weather bureau said snowfalls lasting four days occurred in 1916 and 1968.

Beijingers have not seen so much snow for years and were excited by the beautiful wintry scenes and the resulting fresher air.

School children amused themselves with snow fights and senior citizens continued their daily routine of playing Chinese shadow boxing in parks, undisturbed by the falling snowflakes.

Weather experts said the continuous snow provided a large amount of water for the city and would benefit crop growing.

However, the snow has brought trouble for some as well as good news.

Statistics from local hospitals show 295 people needed medical treatment after falling on the slippery roads in the last four days.

Many patients suffered from fractures, with most of the injured senior citizens and women.

Signs warning pedestrians about the slushy roads were placed in the city's downtown areas and mats were put at the entrances of shopping malls to prevent customers falling over.

Fortunately, continuous snow has not brought the city's transport system to a standstill like a similarly heavy fall did last winter, thanks to an emergency system set up to handle heavy snow.

Plans have been introduced for emergency services to deal with light, moderate and heavy snow.

In addition, the system provides timely weather forecasts to residents and institutions. Environmentally friendly snow-melting chemicals were also used on the city's main streets to prevent the snow turning into ice.

Local sources said more than 7,000 tons of the snow-melting chemicals had been used so far to minimize the negative effects of the snow on city transport.

Transport and traffic control departments also took various measures to ensure traffic kept running smoothly.

Meanwhile, citizens and sanitation workers have joined forces to sweep away snow and eradicate ice.

More than 140,000 sanitation workers in the capital have been working around the clock from Dec. 15, when the first snow fell in the city, to Dec. 23.

Some 430,000 residents voluntarily joined the sweeping efforts in the past week.

(People's Daily December 24, 2002)