> Winter in China

The freezing wet weather will continue this week as the cold front continues over Shanghai but at least snow is no longer expected.

Temperatures will remain at about five to six degrees Celsius during the day, dropping to one or two degrees at night downtown, and even lower in the suburbs. On Saturday the temperature is expected to rise a little, the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau said.

There may be drizzling rain this afternoon and on Thursday, and skies for the rest of the week will remain overcast.

Yesterday morning the temperature in most of the suburbs dropped to below zero - Chongming County reported the lowest temperature of 1.1 degrees below zero.

The city saw this year's first snow at the weekend. On Sunday night, light snow fell onto the Xujiahui area and some suburban districts, including Qingpu and Jiading.

Electricity suppliers estimated that the peak grid demand will be around 17 million kilowatts during the weekdays this week, and about 15.5 million kilowatts at the weekend, an increase of two million kilowatts over last week's level.

But there will be no problems with supply according to the Shanghai Economic Commission, regulator of the city's power grid.

The cold front also brought strong winds at the weekend. Over East China winds measured between 50 and 88 kilometers per hour.

Fifty-two sailors had been rescued from the East China Sea after their vessels were wrecked, the Shanghai-based Donghai Rescue Bureau said yesterday.

With helicopters and rescue vessels, the rescue bureau responded to eight emergencies along the coastal areas of Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.

The local maritime authority said yesterday it had upgraded the search operation looking for people missing after a shipwreck on Friday.

A fishing boat with 24 people aboard, acting as an illegal ferry near Changxing Island on Friday afternoon accidentally hit a cargo vessel in heavy fog.

Thirteen people including the ship's owner were saved from the sea.

A woman's body was found by police when the sunken boat was raised at the weekend.

(Shanghai Daily January 15, 2008)