Man, species in Yunnan safe and sound despite severe cold

A severe cold front persisted in China’s Yunnan Province in recent days, with extremely low temperatures seen in the northeast part of the province.

Since January 7, temperatures in the northeast city of Zhaotong has remained low, and local traffic police worked on the roads full time, taking necessary measures to ensure safety and smooth traffic flow. 

Similar scenes were also seen on the Kunming-Qujing expressway, where police officers were sprinkling salt to melt the ice. 

On January 8-9, the cold front turned Zhaotong’s Dashanbao nature reserve, a wintering habitat for the black-necked crane, into an icy silver world. 

In response, local conservationists supplied the birds with 750 kilograms of corn. Over 1,300 black-necked cranes are seen wintering at the reserve, according to observational statistics.

Meanwhile, photos of the "ice flower" boy, a pupil from a primary school not far from the reserve, went viral on the social media platforms of Weibo and WeChat, as well as on the major web portals nationwide.

His frosted look took shape after a 4.5-km walk from his home to school in Ludian County. The temperature was said to be as low as minus 9 degrees Celsius.

To help the boy and his schoolmates overcome the cold, netizens across China have donated more than 300,000 yuan to the primary school as of January 10, according a latest Chinese report on China Daily web. 

Chinese source: Yunnan Daily App and others; translating by Wang Shixue