ROBERT SIEGEL, Host:
This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Robert Siegel.
MICHELE NORRIS, Host:
NPR's Anthony Kuhn joins us from Beijing to discuss what's happening. Anthony, what's the extent of the storm so far and what's it like for all those travelers who are trying to get home for the holiday?
ANTHONY KUHN: And over a half a million passengers were stranded at that railway station, packed into that station and in tents outside that the army set up. And the government is now trying to get those people to stay in Guangzhou and not go home for the holidays. A trip home for Chinese New Year for many Chinese is pretty rough anyway. It means a battle to get tickets and then a long ride in a packed train. So all in all, it's a very, you know, auspicious prelude to the year of the rat.
NORRIS: Anthony, Chinese leaders are taking this situation quite seriously. What are they doing to try to calm people that are stuck in these train stations trying to get home?
KUHN: Well, they're treating it like a very serious national disaster. And the top leaders themselves went out into the field. Premier Wen Jiabao, the head of the government, went to Hunan province in southern China. And he appeared at a jam-packed train station with a bullhorn. And he actually apologized to the people who are stranded there. And this is what he said.
WEN JIABAO: (Speaking in foreign language).
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
KUHN: He said, I apologize to you all for being stranded here. We're working hard to get the electricity back up. That will get the trains running. And before long, you can go home for the holiday. And he ended by wishing everybody a happy Chinese new year in advance.
NORRIS: Now, this is the heaviest snow in decades. But eventually, this weather will past. But what are the deeper implications for the severe weather?
KUHN: And this has also sparked fears of hording of supplies, including electricity and shortages of food and other things. So people are looking at the implications and seeing trouble ahead for the Chinese economy this year.
NORRIS: Thanks so much, Anthony.
KUHN: Thank you, Michele.
NORRIS: That was NPR's Anthony Kuhn speaking to us from Beijing, China.