New year revellers face a cold start to 2010, with forecasters predicting chilly weather for northern China and rain and snow in the south.

According to China's weather bureau, two strong cold fronts will hit north China during the New Year holiday. Temperatures there, are set to fall by two to four degrees Celsius on Friday. Saturday and Sunday they will fall a further four to eight degrees. And the weather in Heilongjiang province could be the coldest in five years, with the lowest temperature at minus 42 degrees Celsius.