The Chinese government has ordered urgent steps to fight transport chaos caused by the snow and to ensure energy and food supplies.

The move came as forecasters said the brutal conditions were likely to continue as the nation headed into a major holiday.
The Shanghai Times reports..

Heavy snow since mid-January, the worst for 50 years in central, eastern and southern areas, has killed dozens of people and affected tens of millions of others.

Premier Wen Jiabao said the weather was threatening lives and disrupting supplies of food, coal, oil and electricity ahead of the Lunar New Year.  Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan told an emergency meeting yesterday that 17 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions have suffered blackouts, and power grids in Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou and Guangdong provinces have been seriously damaged.

A 500-kv power tower in Guizhou collapsed under mounting snow and the 220-kv transmission network has been largely destroyed, resulting in blackouts in 41 cities and counties, said Wang Yumin, deputy chairman of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

Li Shenglin, Minister of Communications, ordered transport companies in southern areas to halt delivery of coal for foreign trade and recall vehicles to transport coal to domestic power plants.

The national forecasting authority said the freezing weather would continue over the next week.

A bus carrying 41 people overturned in east China's Jiangxi Province early yesterday, leaving five dead and injuring 10 others.

A hospital in Guiyang, capital city of Guizhou, has treated at least 1,500 patients in the past five days, most suffering fractures after falling.

Guizhou has suffered five deaths, 1,631 collapsed homes and widespread blackouts.

The local government said more than 40,000 people were stranded in at least 5,000 broken-down vehicles on expressways between Guizhou and neighboring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.  

In Hunan Province, seven people have died. Among the dead were three power company workers killed trying to remove ice from a tower, which collapsed.

In the eastern Jiangsu Province, snow virtually closed the airport in Nanjing.

After massive train delays between Beijing and Guangzhou on Saturday, the number of passengers stranded in Hangzhou, capital of the eastern Zhejiang Province, soared to 30,000 yesterday.

Just to preface our week of comment and information about airlines in Asia we are starting with outline details of airports and major airlines in China. If you feel the list is either incorrect or or incomplete, please contact me with relevant comment.