Heavy snow hit Beijing Sunday, stranding thousands of passengers at the Chinese capital's main airport and casting an unusual quiet over normally busy streets as people stayed out of the freezing weather. More than 90 percent of flights at Beijing's Capital International Airport, the country's busiest, were canceled or severely delayed, state television said, with only one of its three runways open at one point. Airports in the nearby cities of Tianjin, Hohhot and Dalian closed completely for a time, state television added. Many of the highways out of Beijing were shut too, with several centimeters of snow blanketing roads and temperatures expected to touch lows of -16 Celsius (3.20F). The last time northern China was hit by a spell of snow storms in November food prices spiked due to delivery woes, driving up inflation unexpectedly that month. The latest snowstorm and the likelihood roads may stay backlogged for several days more could fuel fresh worries about weather-caused inflation. Long lines formed at the airport terminal in Beijing as passengers waited to rearrange their flights or get taxis or buses out. On the tarmac, workers in orange jackets shovelled snow and ice from around grounded aircraft which themselves were blanketed in snow. Passengers expressed resignation. “I came very early to catch my plane because I knew it was going to snow,” said Xiao Guo. “I hoped to come early and get through the check-in process and see what time the plane would leave, but according to the airport it will not leave today.” On a highway into Beijing from Hebei province police stopped large trucks on the side of the road, causing lengthy queues.
