Wicked winter weather tests, strains China

The disaster showed how China has changed over 30 years from orthodox communism to market economics.

Under the doctrinaire communist economy, there was little travel and few manufacturing jobs to attract rural migrants. Industrial production was so low and public utilities, such as heat, so minimal that power outages would have barely registered.

Nowadays capitalism, reflected in booming industry and services, keeps millions of migrant workers on the move by air, rail, road and river.

The propaganda campaign also reflected new realities. While the party keeps a tight lid on bad news, its controls must now vie with cell phones and the Internet.

"Local media can simply no longer cover these things up," Cheng said.

Workers faced to stay behind
But authoritarian advantages may now become liabilities. Fixing the weather damage will fall to corrupt and inefficient local officials under no voter pressure to perform. Temporary price freezes may drive down production and create longer-term inflation pressures.

Authorities will also need to appease the throngs of migrant workers whose cherished trips home were disrupted.

Chen Manyu, 34, said he canceled his trip home to the western province of Sichuan, but added that the cosmetics factory that employs him laid on a banquet Wednesday night — a possible reflection of the pressure managers feel to retain workers amid a growing labor crunch.

"Of course it would have been nicer to go home," he said. "But so far things are OK here."

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