Foggy, icy weather forces road closure in northern China

Dense fog and icy conditions have forced the closure of major expressways in multiple provincial-level regions in northern China since Friday morning.

At 12:00 on Friday, traffic control measures, including closures, remained in effect on 16 sections of national and provincial trunk roads in Hebei, Henan, Shandong and Xinjiang. Among these, two sections had their mainlines closed, while toll stations on 14 sections were shut.

Starting from the early hours of Friday, multiple areas in Dezhou City of Shandong Province experienced dense fog, with Xiajin, Pingyuan and Yucheng reporting visibility less than 100 meters.

In parts of Xiajin, visibility dropped below 50 meters, prompting local meteorological authorities to issue a red alert for dense fog.

Affected by the fog, temporary control measures were implemented on some expressways within Dezhou, with multiple entrances closed. Traffic police strengthened presence at service areas, entrances and exits of expressways to ensure road safety.

So far, all expressway entrances and exits in Dezhou have resumed normal operation.

Many areas in Hebei also experienced dense fog, with visibility less than 200 meters in eastern Baoding, western Cangzhou, Xingtai, and eastern Handan in the province. Some localities even reported visibility below 50 meters.

Shortly after 6:00, the Hebei Provincial Meteorological Observatory issued an orange alert for dense fog.

From 23:00 on Thursday to Friday morning, over 10 key routes in Hebei, including the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao, Beijing-Kunming, Daqing-Guangzhou, Tianjin-Shijiazhuang, and Qingdao-Lanzhou expressways, were affected by dense fog.

Expressway traffic police closed some toll stations along these expressways according to fog conditions, and activated traffic diversion points to divert vehicles.

By 10:00 Friday, as visibility improved, some toll stations resumed operation.

On expressway sections with insufficient visibility, traffic police used patrol cars to lead and control the speed of vehicles, guiding stranded traffic to pass through orderly and safely.

Additionally, due to snowfall and icy road surfaces, control measures were taken on 28 expressway sections in Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Xinjiang. Among them, the mainlines of 14 sections were closed, while toll gates were shut on the other 14 ones.

The National Meteorological Center (NMC) issued a blue alert for snowfall on Friday morning, with parts of Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Gansu expected to be hit by heavy snow.

Foggy, icy weather forces road closure in northern China

Foggy, icy weather forces road closure across China

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Thursday presided over a State Council executive meeting that studied work on building a unified national market and reviewed and approved a plan for the development of a modern emergency response system during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

Noting that building a unified national market is essential to advancing high-quality development, the meeting called for deepening institutional frameworks in areas such as property rights protection, market access, fair competition, social credit and market exit mechanisms.

The meeting also urged efforts to advance high-standard connectivity of market infrastructure to facilitate smooth economic circulation and effectively reduce logistics costs across society.

Emergency management is critical to protecting people's lives and property, the meeting said. It called for accelerating the development of a modern emergency response system, deepening reform and innovation in emergency management, and improving coordinated response mechanisms.

Efforts should be made to strengthen risk prevention at the source, enhance monitoring, forecasting and early warning, and accelerate a shift in governance toward proactive prevention, according to the meeting.

A draft revision of the Law on the People's Bank of China was also discussed and approved in principle at the meeting, which decided to submit the draft to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation.

Chinese premier chairs State Council executive meeting