Nothing much happened after the first few days of snow in
Shanghai. It was just wet and muddy, everywhere.
But this morning, the fifth day of snow and sleet, Shanghai took
on a new look. From a distance, the endless rows of rather squalid
tenement buildings near my apartment appeared decidedly
picturesque, with their tiled roofs covered in a blanket of white.
I never would have guessed they would look so beautiful.
Against the backdrop of a dark overcast sky, the snow-covered
park outside my office building, with a big pond in the middle,
looked just like a scene out of a traditional Chinese brush
painting.
A colleague who has lived in Shanghai all his life told me he
has only seen such heavy snow in the city twice in the past 50
years.
While I cursed the slush that had made the streets treacherously
slippery on my way to work, students of a middle-school seemed to
be having loads of fun skidding along the icy pavements.
In the playground of my apartment compound, children giggled at
the foot prints they left in the snow. A young couple made a
valiant effort in showing their toddler how to build a snowman
although there was only a thin layer of snow on the ground.
Statistics from the weather bureau show that this city is facing
its worst weather in many years. Our sympathies naturally go out to
the many thousands of migrant workers stranded at railway stations
around the region and the many more thousands of people whose daily
lives have been interrupted by the snowstorms. We also admire the
teams of workers for their efforts in combating the extreme weather
to clear highways and railways and keep disruption to the supply of
essential utilities to a minimum.
The snowstorms have somehow given us a new perspective of life
in this city. It has showed up a side of the city we have never
seen before, and also the capability and adaptability of Shanghai
people to face new challenges.
Returning from sunny Hong Kong just as the cold front was
beginning to set in, I looked at the weather forecast and wondered
if I could survive without central heating in my apartment.
Panicked, I turned on all the heaters and blew the fuse of my
apartment three times in a week.
Every time it happened, a repairman came unfailing within 30
minutes of my call to the building management office and fixed it
free of charge.
Before that, I had never had the need to call for help from the
building management people. I have read plenty of horror stories
about the standard of building managements in mainland cities. In
fact, they can be quite helpful, if not entirely friendly, when you
need them as I found out last week.
Some of my foreign friends told me that they were surprised the
city could function at all in such unusual weather conditions. The
foul weather had apparently brought many more cars on to the roads
and highways. Traffic seemed heavier than usual, but there were no
reports of major accidents or gridlocks.
Electricity and water supply has remained uninterrupted.
Although I do not shop for food myself, I can see from my balcony
that the market on the street below is busy as usual with plentiful
supplies.
Oh yes, gas supply to my neighborhood was interrupted one
evening. The building management assured me that emergency repairs
were underway and supply would resume early next morning. To my
relief, it did.
Of course, the thought of having to walk through slush is not
very appealing. But the experience of this cold spell has brought
some pleasant surprises. It is no doubt a winter to remember.
(China Daily January 30, 2008)