Snow! Or, Keeping Your Sanity Through A Chinese Winter

It snowed this morning. Not heavy snow, and it was too warm for it to gather on the ground. Still, it was one more reminder that winter is on its way.

Changchun's weather is comparable to Kansas's in many ways, including the schizophrenic changes in temperature which make dressing for it difficult. Winter, however, is uniformly cold. During these months, every building switches into cold weather mode, with measures taken to hedge out cold air. One increasingly common sight is heavy fabric flaps which are lowered over door frames. While they make entering and leaving stores more difficult, they do a good job of insulating the areas around the door. For smaller stores, keeping the area warm can be as simple as closing a door that is normally opened.

Apart from that, most of the measures are personal, with many people dressing in layers. Hot water (sans tea leaves or coffee beans) also becomes more common in the winter months. Scoff if you must, but it does wonders for a head cold. Some people carry oversized thermoses full of near-boiling water for use back home.

Not that the cold seems to bother the locals too much - even today, I saw people buying ice cream cones on Tongzhi Street. (Not me though - it's all about the taiyaki. Warm and scrumptious!)