November 12, 2009
Beijing saw its third snowfall in twelve days this morning.
Because the snow reached other areas of the country as early as yesterday afternoon, the city’s morning newspapers could only feature photos of heavy accumulation elsewhere, leaving the capital’s snowfall for the evening editions.
Today’s Beijing Evening News ran a front-page photo of a snow-covered bridge in Shichahai neatly framed by a railing.
Snow tends to add to the city’s charm, blanketing the eaves of traditional-style buildings and muffling the sounds of traffic, even as it increases gridlock and causes headaches for residents.
After Tuesday’s snowfall, Huang Jiwei, a writer who keeps a blog on literature and popular slang, offered up a gallery of photos of the snow-covered city. He prefaced it a quote from the poet Yin Lichuan, “When it snows, the northern capital becomes northern peace,” a line that plays on the capital’s current and former names: Beijing (北京) vs. Beiping (北平).
- Huang Jiwei’s blog (Chinese): Beiping, Yin Lichuan quote (2005)