Residents struggle as cold weather heads south

For someone who spent several hours lining up for tickets at Beijing Railway Station, you would expect Wang Yingzhang to be excited about returning home to Shanghai for Spring Festival.

But you would be wrong.

"It's freezing there," groaned the 35-year-old IT sales manager, who has enjoyed the warmth of the capital for more than seven years. "Shanghai has no citywide central heating system like Beijing, so if we don't switch on the air conditioner it is unbearable.