TOP-DOWN RULE
For Party leaders, battling the natural disasters that regularly befall the vast, poor country is a chance to reinforce the need for top-down rule. Floods in 1998 and other calamities provided opportunities for similar propaganda drives.
"When one place suffers misfortune, aid comes from all directions," said the official People's Daily. "That is the traditional virtue of the Chinese nation and even more it is a vivid portrait of the superiority of the socialist system."
More than 60 people have died, including 25 on Tuesday in a bus crash on an icy mountain road. The snow had lasted 19 days in the central province of Hubei, "almost the worst in a century", the Xinhua news agency said.
The state-run China Daily praised an outpouring of philanthropy to help those in need, but warned profiteers they could expect no mercy. Seven food vendors at Guangzhou station had been accused of profiteering by raising prices.
"These despicable economic creatures should be put to shame before the fine citizenship the overwhelming majority has demonstrated," the newspaper said in an editorial.
Wen visited stranded travellers in central China and then in Guangzhou. State television showed him repeatedly apologising for the disruption and comforting citizens.
UPLIFTING SONG
State television has described the hardships but stressed stories of tireless railway workers, police and officials and the six electricity workers who died while repairing power lines.
Live updates on relief efforts have featured an uplifting song. "We all belong to one family, a loving family," it goes.
There were minor scuffles among people pouring towards Guangzhou station after spending the night in halls and other temporary shelters. Some threw plastic water bottles at police.
But 200,000 passengers were expected to get away on Thursday, media reported, as power was restored to electric trains upline. Trucks stuck on icy highways are also beginning to move.
All the country's main airports were open, the civil aviation regulator said, but the national weather forecaster said snow and sleet would continue to hit parts of central, eastern and southern provinces over the next 10 days.
