December 27, 2021

In late September, as an unusual cold wave arriving weeks earlier than previous years took the country by surprise, many residents in Northeast China were caught off guard by sudden power cuts. In what has been described as the most severe power outages in the country in decades, millions in one of the country's industrial heartlands were impacted - homes plunged into darkness, heating was turned off and water supply was threatened. Lives were at stake, as nearly two dozen workers at a local metalwork company in Liaoning were sickened by carbon monoxide due to sudden power cuts and were sent to hospitals.

Like the residents in Northeast China, many around the country were also evidently caught off guard by the widespread outages. News of the power cuts took the social media by storm, generating hundreds of millions of views and comments and prompting questions about local governments' handling of the situation. For many older Chinese, power rationing and shortages were something that existed only in distant memories. For Millennial Chinese, many may not even know such a thing existed.

The power cuts in the world's second-largest economy also became international news. For Western media outlets that have been sparing no effort in finding fault in the Chinese system, this was a golden opportunity. They jumped on the story and portrayed a Chinese government that couldn't even keep the lights on for its citizens, even though just seven months or so earlier, sustained power outages in the US State of Texas had killed at least 151 people. Foreign financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, also downgraded GDP growth forecast for the Chinese economy, citing the energy shortages. 

Read more:

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202112/1243517.shtml