Multiple cities in East China's Jiangsu and Anhui provinces suspended schools on Tuesday due to the impact caused by rain, snow, and freezing weather, a precautionary measure taken to prioritize the safety of students and teachers.

Cities including Jiangsu's Nanjing, Changzhou and Zhenjiang, as well as Anhui's Lu'an, Wuhu and Chuzhou all have suspended classes or implemented flexible school hours to reduce risk and transportation pressure caused by the cold weather.  

All primary and secondary schools, kindergartens, vocational and technician schools in Changzhou were closed on Tuesday due to the impact of the weather. Parents can apply for in-school care services if needed, and the schools will coordinate and arrange for care services, according to the Changzhou education authority on Monday.

Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, implemented flexible school hours from Tuesday to Friday. "Students who don't meet the conditions for attending school can choose not to come to school, while other students can arrive late or leave early according to their actual situation," the Nanjing education authority said.

A local teacher in Nanjing surnamed Zhang told the Global Times on Tuesday that her school held classes normally while students could decide for themselves whether or not to attend based on their own situation.

Several parents from Anhui confirmed with the Global Times that local schools suspended classes on Tuesday due to the snowy weather. 

"The teachers held classes online and gave homework to the children to complete at home. We totally understand the decision as the weather poses transportation as well as safety risks," Zhang, a parent of a primary school student from Anhui's Wuhu, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Since Sunday night, the regions along the south of the Huaihe River have seen moderate to heavy snowfall, with some parts experiencing blizzards. As of 8 am on Tuesday, a total of 43 cities and counties within Anhui Province had accumulated one to nine centimeters of snow. Another cold air front is expected to affect the province from Tuesday tonight to Thursday, according to a notice released by the Anhui provincial meteorological bureau on Tuesday. 

An additional work team has been dispatched to Anhui to guide the prevention of and response to disasters from rain, snow and freezing conditions, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management on Monday. The move was made as part of requirements for increased efforts in enhancing monitoring, forecasting, and issuing alerts to the public in a timely manner.

Jiangsu provincial education authorities issued a notice on strengthening prevention and response to low-temperature rain, snow, and ice disasters on Sunday. It stipulated the need to enhance risk prevention for outdoor group activities, and suspend teaching and outdoor activities if necessary.

Local governments of the earthquake-hit provinces of Gansu and Qinghai vowed to take immediate measures to ensure victims are under warm roofs amid sub-freezing temperatures, and to provide them with sufficient life necessities. Specialized and timely medical treatment is also being arranged for those who were injured during the disaster.

Gansu's emergency management bureau said on Thursday that the province's earthquake relief work has achieved a phased victory and that the search for the missing was basically over. Now the local government is focusing on saving the injured, the resettlement of victims and cleaning debris from across earthquake-stricken areas.

The death toll caused by the devastating earthquake that rattled Northwest China on Monday night had reached 137 as of Thursday - 115 in Gansu and 22 in Qinghai.

Officials in Qinghai vowed to make resettlement of earthquake victims a priority and to offer special treatment to the elderly, children, women and other special groups.

Meanwhile, local hospitals have received a total of 784 injured people, and health authorities are currently providing psychological counseling for those impacted by the disaster.

Bai Yuping, an official from Gansu's health authority, said at the Thursday conference that those who suffered minor injuries were sent to hospitals close by, and those in severe condition were sent to provincial and key hospitals. Bai said timely and customized treatment has been provided to each injured victim.

She said mobile medical teams had been dispatched to villages hit hardest by the earthquake. Those teams can receive 500 people on daily basis.

Under the guidance of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China, Gansu provincial housing and urban-rural authorities established an earthquake relief command headquarters, and initiated a Level II emergency earthquake response. The ministry has dispatched personnel to the affected areas to provide guidance for disaster relief, according to the local officials.

More than 500 specialists and technicians have been dispatched to the area to survey the damage to residential areas and facilities, conduct emergency assessments of building structures, and carry out urgent repairs.

As of Thursday, the water and gas supply in Jishishan county, the epicenter of the earthquake, had resumed.

Some schools in earthquake-hit areas have already resumed in-person classes or are conducting online teaching. In Qinghai's Minhe county, two out of 176 schools are carrying out online teaching.

People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers have built up a "tent school" in one of the makeshift shelters near Jishishan, media reported. In this "temporary school," young students are being taught about national defense and safety during disasters.

However, the Global Times reporters learned from a rescue team that the biggest challenge remaining is the sub-freezing temperatures in the earthquake-hit zones. The weather authority in the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, which governs Jishishan, said that temperatures will remain at -10 C to 14 C from Wednesday to January 2, 2024.

Some rescue workers have established shifts to ensure they can maintain their stamina and avoid damaging their health amid freezing temperatures.

Government employees, soldiers from the PLA and volunteers are racing against time and the cold to erect tents for earthquake victims. In Dahe village, Jishishan county, a PLA soldier told the Global Times that they make sure every tents has stoves to keep victims warm.

Currently, life necessities such as food, tents and clothes as well as large rescue equipment are still urgently needed. Relief goods donated from all over the country have been pouring into the disaster area. As of Wednesday night, the central government departments have allocated a total of 135,500 disaster relief supplies to Gansu and Qinghai. A total of 126,600 items have been delivered so far.

However, the Global Times learned that some villages are still in need of relief supplies. More than 20 people in Shanzhuang village in Jishishan have only one tents, a villager surnamed Ma said. When a 4.1-magnitude aftershock jolted neighboring areas in Jishishan on Thursday morning, the villagers had to spent the night in the open air, and every family only had one package of instant noodles, and is in urgent need of cotton padded coat to keep themselves warm, said Ma.

As of Wednesday morning, the Gansu provincial government said on Wednesday that the province had recorded a total of 423 aftershocks.

Iranian puppeteer Fahimeh Barotchi (R) gives instructions as Chen Daigong, puppeteer and inheritor of a local Chinese puppet performing art, learns to play at a puppet art preservation center in Jinjiang of Quanzhou City, southeast China's Fujian Province, Dec. 11, 2023. Puppet artists from 12 countries are invited to Quanzhou, a city widely believed to be the starting point of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, to give puppet performances and communicate with local puppet artists.(Photo: Xinhua)

The opening ceremony of the 31st World University Games will be held on July 28 at the Dong'an Lake Sports Park Stadium in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province. While the stadium itself will not be hosting any matches or events other than the opening ceremony, the Dong'an Lake Sports Park is still one of the main sites for the Games, with artistic gymnastics and swimming events to be held there.

The Dong'an Lake Sports Park Multi-Purpose Gymnasium will host the artistic gymnastics events during the Games. With a floor area of 90,169.37 square meters, the gymnasium has one field of play and one warm-up area. The artistic gymnastics events will take place from August 1 to 5, with 14 gold medals to be awarded.

With a capacity of 18,000, the venue is one of the largest and highest-level indoor multi-purpose gymnasiums in China, according to Huang Hai'an, executive deputy manager of the Venue Operation Center (VOC) for Dong'an Lake Sports Park Multi-Purpose Gymnasium. "It will be used for artistic gymnastics competitions during the Chengdu Games, but actually it can do much more than that," Huang told the Global Times.

It has been reported that the venue is able to host 16 kinds of sports events, but "that is conservative," said Huang. "Basically, most of the sports you can imagine could be played here, be it badminton, volleyball, table tennis, and even winter sports like ice hockey and curling," Huang noted.

The gymnasium can be turned into a basketball court from an ice hockey venue in about six hours, while the reverse process would take around five days as making ice takes more time than melting it, Huang told the Global Times.

The Chengdu Games will be the first large-scale international comprehensive sports event to be held in western China, but the organizers are fully confident about the post-Games usage of the gymnasium, and planning for future events has already begun.

"About 20 concerts will be held here in the following months after the Chengdu Games, with the first one scheduled for late August," the gymnasium's Logistical Support Deputy Manager Luo Xingxing told the Global Times. "There will be concerts or business activities here every month" to bring in income, Luo said.

They will try to bring other national and international sports games to the gymnasium, and commercial competitions like boxing and NBA China games will also be an option for consideration, said Luo.

A few hundred meters away from the gymnasium sits the Dong'an Lake Sports Park Aquatics Center, which will host the swimming competitions of the Chengdu Games. Covering a floor area of 73,549.33 square meters, it has one competition pool with 10 lanes and one warm-up pool with 10 lanes.

The aquatics center will serve as a competition, warm-up and training venue for the swimming events, which are scheduled from August 1 to 7, with 42 gold medals up for grabs.

It is the only Class A aquatics center in Sichuan, according to Bai Xue, its VOC executive deputy manager. It's equipped with the world's most advanced timing and scoring system, which is accurate to one ten-thousandth of a second, said Bai.

Similar to the nearby gymnasium, the aquatics center will also be put to good use after the Games. Before the Chengdu Games, it has been open to the public for a very low price since May 2022, Bai told the Global Times. "Citizens can enjoy a world-class swimming pool for only 40 yuan [$5.6], which is cheaper than those in many gyms and hotels," Bai noted.

Besides being available for the public after the Games, the center will also invite professional swimming coaches to offer lessons.

Chinese speed skaters made some breakthroughs at the speed skating World Cup in Beijing over the weekend, as they totaled two silver and four bronze medals in the three-day competition.

Ning Zhongyan has become the marquee name for the Chinese speed skating team this year as he bagged one silver and two bronze medals in all three races he participated in. Female skater Han Mei is also a big contributor as she claimed one silver and one bronze medals. 

The National Speed Skating Oval, replaced its ice for the first time after hosting the Winter Olympics last year, has been dubbed the "fastest ice" as it witnessed the breaking of 10 Olympic records last year. 

"I was a bit nervous when competing at the Olympics here last year, but now I am just enjoying the race," Ning told reporters. "I think I didn't fail to live up to the fans' expectations, but I do hope I can change the color of my medal at the next World Cup event."

In the women's race, Han's result in the 1,500 meters of 1:55.92 was just 0.4 seconds short of Japanese veteran Miho Takagi, who bagged three individual medals at the Beijing 2022 Olympics. Han's teammate Li Qishi finished third.

"Different from competing at the Olympics, now we have fans cheering for us, which is a booster for me," Han told reporters, noting she has set herself the goal of stepping onto the podium at the Milan 2026 Olympics.

The last time a Chinese female skater entered the top three in the 1,500 meters event was during the 1999-2000 season, when Song Li achieved third place in the Netherlands. 

Li Yan, head coach of the national speed skating team, said though the team is preparing for its ultimate goal of the Milan 2026 Winter Olympics, participating in the World Cup events has made the goal "clearer."

"Every four years we are preparing for one thing (the Winter Olympics), but this year our goals are clearer, which is to improve our results and rankings," she told reporters. 

"Every athlete, regardless of their current level, is finding their shortcomings and areas to improve. More importantly, we are consolidating the spirit of the entire team, using the team's strength to achieve breakthroughs and support each other."

Compared to speed skating's brother, the discipline short track, which has become a popular event thanks to China's medal haul in the discipline, the oval races are relatively less influential, as it totaled only two gold medals in China's seven entries into Winter Olympics. 

While in recent years China has seen success in shorter distance speed skating, particularly with Zhang Hong and Gao Tingyu winning gold in the 500 meters events at the Sochi 2014 and Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, respectively, the country has struggled in mid-to-long-distance events, which makes breakthroughs like those of Ning and Han more significant.

Despite not participating in the previous season and lacking World Cup ranking points, Gao, who recently returned, finished just a place short for a podium finish in Beijing. But coach Li expressed satisfaction with his recovery. 

"Gao's smooth return is the first step. The fans have high expectations for him, but after all, he hasn't participated in formal competitions for over 20 months," Li told reporters. 

"Being able to move to the top group is a stable first step, and he just needs to do his best."