Power out in China

The pouring rain...sounds beautiful in the silence as I work by window light. The temperature is a few degrees above freezing or there would be even more trouble!!

Silence? At a factory? Yep. The power's out. Generator engine is broken and they race in this icy weather to fix. Can't imagine my hands in icy cold wet metal right now. Brrrrrrrrr!

They keep asking if I'm OK. I'm bundled up like nanook with all my extra extra layers on. I'm fine. I told them to just take their time and do it right. The poor generator hasn't ever seen such cold!!!

Occasionally we here some fire crackers from a nearby factory, likely set off by workers to kill their bordom & lighten their spirits as the factories have closed for Chinese New Year and they cannot get home.

Millions of migrant workers in Southern China...
Farms covered in snow as farmers race to save their harvests. They talk of the pending food shortage on the news.
Roads impassable due to snow and ice. Some regions haven't seen snow in 50 years...some as much as 70, so they certainly don't have snow plows or salt & sand spreaders. People are stuck. They say half a million homes have collasped due to the weight of feet of snow and ice. People have no heat in the homes that survive.

Those still waiting in Guan Zhou -- hundreds of thousands and growing -- I worry there will be a riot when the trains start to run. The government has announced that all tickets through February 6 will be refunded and invalid for travel. That said -- the people wait anyway - cold - hungry. Many had already spent all of their money on food the days they waited prior to the announcement. Food venders actively price-gouging.
So when the trains run...who'll get aboard? Those with a ticket or those who have been waiting a week-plus by then in the bitter cold, hungry and angry??

And to think I almost stopped at a different factory more north first on this trip!! I'd have been stuck there still!!!

Here I sit, bundled up... Happily hand sewing samples by window light. I could SO be in a worse place than this!!
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