It's beginning to look like this may be a white Christmas.

Weather forecasters, reacting to the winter's coldest temperatures in the Chinese capital - 8.4 C below zero early yesterday morning - say fluffy, white stuff is on the way.

China Central Meteorological Observatory has issued a winter snow warning for eastern and central China yesterday as a new cold air mass invades the country.

Forecasters said snow showers could develop, with depths ranging up to 15 millimetres in some areas in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Meanwhile, areas like Shanxi, Hebei provinces in in North China Henan in Central China and East China's Shandong are expecting heavy snow or snow storms.

The bitterly cold and snowy weather will continue for the next five days.

The strong winds and rapidly falling temperatures have pushed the winter chill deep into every corner of Beijing.

"Beijing saw its lowest temperatures early this morning -8.4 C below zero," said Li Tingfu, a weather forecaster with the local weather service.

However, the temperature is forecast to go up a little bit in the next few days. The daytime high could rise to 0 C or 2 C.

Yesterday's high was only 1.7 C below zero, which was 2 to 3 degrees C lower than the average record for the same period.

But one day's record is not strong enough to disprove that a warm winter is expected this year, Li added.

Records for November and early December show the temperature was 2 to 3 C higher than average.

During the cold winter days, airport flights and train schedules have become more of a wish than reliable guidelines.

The flight board at the airport in Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning Province, showed more than 50 flight delays and cancellations on Sunday as the airport was forced to close when heavy snow blanketed the city.

In Beijing, the cold air detained about 200 passengers at the Beijing Capital International Airport on Sunday when the engine of one airplane froze up.

The flight was back on after 9 hours of emergency repairs, the Beijing Times said.

The unusual cold caused railway foul-ups.

About 10 trains were delayed 2 hours or so as the Beijing-Shanghai railway was frozen in parts.

The cold front is giving the country a feel of real winter.

"I am glad that it looks like it will be possible to have a white Christmas Day," an excited Wei Feng, an ordinary Beijinger, said.

She said as a big sports fan she is looking forward to going skiing some time on a real snowy day.

She said cold weather should not be an excuse to skip physical exercise.

Source: China Daily