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    FancyEnglish        Cold Cripples China       课件首页

        January 30, 2008

(CNN Student News) -- January 30, 2008 Shoutout STAN CASE, CNN STUDENT NEWS: In the Chinese calendar, February 7 marks the start of what year? If you think you know it, shout it out! Is it the year of the: A) Rat, B) Dog, C) Ox or D) Pig? You've got three seconds -- GO! On February 7th, the Year of the Rat begins in the Chinese calendar. This last year was the Year of the Pig. That's your answer and that's your Shoutout! Cold Cripples China AZUZ: Winter storms have slammed the brakes on a lot of New Year's travel plans in China. News reports estimate that more than 175 million people are expected to journey by train for the event. That's why the country's government is jumping into action to try and find a solution. Hugh Riminton has more on the crowded conditions at one station. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HUGH RIMINTON, CNN REPORTER: It is every traveler's nightmare multiplied by millions. PERSON ON STREET (TRANSLATED): It is so crowded. I saw two people with children fall down, and then six or seven people trampled over the top of them. RIMINTON: For days, hundreds of thousands of people, up to half a million on official figures, have camped out at this railway station in provincial Guangzhou. Despite government appeals, they still come for trains that never leave, that never arrive. PERSON ON STREET (TRANSLATED): I have been sleeping out here for six days. I have spent all my money. I don't know how I will get home. It is a disaster from heaven. RIMINTON: Record snowstorms, in some places more than a foot and a half, have sliced through central and eastern China, stranding millions, cut China north from south, bringing shortages of food and fuel. Dozens have died. More than half a million homes have been damaged or destroyed. But nothing bites harder or more widely than the disruption to travel. For the central authorities and for the people of China, this could not happen at a worse time. It is at this time of year every year that tens of millions of Chinese try to make it home for the Chinese New Year. It is why men long separated from families will wait as long as it takes, why families without realistic hope of movement hang on in bitter and frigid conditions for days. PERSON ON STREET (TRANSLATED): Going home every year is an obligation. It is family reunion, and no matter how difficult it is, we have to do it. RIMINTON: While most are stoic, there is growing anger. PERSON ON STREET (TRANSLATED): The government is so bad. Officials can go home, but not us farm workers. This government has no credibility. RIMINTON: Whatever the truth in that, with coal for heating rationed, food shortages driving up prices, Beijing senses the potential for unrest, drawing an almost unheard of apology from the highest ranks of the government. WEN JIABAO, CHINESE PREMIER: I apologize to you all. We are currently trying our best to repair the system. First, we will fix the electric grid. After that's fixed, the trains will run again. We don't need a lot of time. Then all of you can go home for Chinese New Year. RIMINTON: But the emergency shelters are filling up. This one, capacity 50,000, has been full for days. And the Chinese New Year rush is not set to peak until next week, nor is the weather set to improve. Hugh Riminton, CNN, Guangzhou, China. (END VIDEO CLIP)

  

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