(keep reading for first-hand photos - press the “more” button)

Uncharacteristically cold weather has hit China at a fatal timing - just before Spring Festival and Chinese New Year. This time of year involves a mass migration, as countless Chinese head home to visit their families, and in normal conditions cause a very heavy load on the mass transit system. Recent weather in Southern China, reported as coldest in the last 50 years, resulted in a total systems collapse as railways were blocked by snow and trains were halted on the tracks.

The result - countless people stuck in railway stations, unable to board trains. The problem was most severe in Guangzhou, which serves as a transport hub for southern China: hundreds of thousands have been stranded there for the last week, waiting for trains. Massive amounts of police and army units are currently stationed there trying to maintain order, supplemented by conscripted civil-service workers and volunteers. Last Saturday I visited Guangzhou and decided to go and take a personal peek at this “sea of humanity”:

The subway line had stopped one station before the railway station, from where I had to continue by foot. There was not a very long distance to walk, though, because long before arriving at the train station I had already bumped into a seething mass of humanity waiting to get in. The police had had a few days to learn from their mistakes and get organized and had constructed several “rings” around the station in an attempt to contain it. Once in a while an outer ring was opened allowing people to flow into a more inner ring. Here is how it looked outside the outer ring:

As it turned out I was “lucky”, and a short time after I arrived an outer ring gate near me was opened, and I was swept along with the flow into the outer ring:

Inside people were mainly milling about waiting to get deeper inside, and there were a few volunteers walking around handing out food, raincoats and blankets. Finally I’ve seen enough and decided that it’s time to leave. I turned around to head out from where I came in (or was swept in, to be more accurate), and found myself facing this sight:

As it were, I was in a “can’t spit, can’t swallow” position - I couldn’t move deeper into an inner ring, nor could I go back out. Both ways were blocked and I was stuck inside the outer ring, along with a few hundred Chinese who, like me, wanted to get out, and untold thousands who wanted to go deeper in. Cajoling the policemen manning the barrier did not help - they would not open the barrier for us, nor would we have much of a chance getting out through the scores of bodies pressed to the barrier even if they did. Vague promises were made (most of them ending with: “go stand over there”), but nothing happened for a long time. I prepared myself for the time the police would open the barrier again to let another wave through, at which I will try to work my way against the flow and out to freedom - but as the hours ticked by, the barrier remained closed.

At some point a few of my fellow inmates have discovered a wall which, when climbed, leads to an on-ramp to a road (long closed to traffic). This on-ramp was used by the police and army to deliver supplies and seemed to eventually lead out of our prison. Some people tried scaling the wall, and the police stationed on top of it tried to discourage them - leading at times to near-violent confrontations. Darkness fell and the weather became colder and colder (about 4-5 degrees celsius with occasional light rain), desperation causing people to become bolder and bolder; until at a certain point they started ignoring the police altogether and rushing the wall:

[youtube 8w99psiAyLE]

The police, at this point, had completely given up on trying to contain the people who wanted to leave. I joined the crowd swarming the wall and, after being stuck inside for more than four hours, finally reached freedom - vowing to myself not to ride a long-distance train until the holiday rush is over…