Frozen Shanghai – December 1947

As is traditional the northern Chinese cold front will move down towards eastern China and Shanghai later this week and over the weekend. Like most places the weather has changed in Shanghai and the city has been markedly warmer since the 1960s according to records – below freezing is less common now and snowfall too, though both still occur. But winters were certainly more severe last century. For instance, 1947 was a very, very cold winter in Shanghai (1948 was to be particularly severe too). The worst was still to come but in 3 days, from Thursday to Sunday (December 18-21), the authorities found 300 frozen bodies on the streets of the city – 64 alone on Saturday. Temperatures went sub-zero, as low as minus 22 degrees with the windchill factored in, and bodies were found huddled together trying to conserve heat, but managing only to die of the cold….