四海为家

It’s been snowing in Wuhan today, this winter’s first snowfall — this time (I believe) sponsored by mother nature rather than by the government. I was pretty excited to see the beautiful white snow on the ground, a definite improvement over the rain-snow-slush of the past few days.

Fresh snow on the street below our building

A balcony across from our apartment, with some very courageous potted plants

The drawback is that it’s very cold, and most buildings (including our apartment and my classrooms) aren’t heated. Insulation is also virtually non-existent, so when it’s cold outside, it’s at best a few degrees warmer inside. A lot of people have an air conditioner that blows cold air in the summer and hot air in the winter, which helps a little bit against the cold — in my apartment, we have these in the bedrooms, but not in the rest of the apartment. But even with those on at full speed all day, when it’s only a few degrees above zero, they’re barely able to pump out warm air faster than the cold air seeps in through the cracks around the windows. Still, if we keep the bedroom door closed, we can keep at least one room in the apartment at a decent temperature, which is better than nothing.

Students who live in university dorms don’t even have air conditioners / heaters — my students have told me that they just bundle up, and use a small electric heating pouch that they put between the blankets to keep warm. They think it’s strange that I take my jacket off when I come into the classroom — most people keep their full winter gear on at all times. Not to speak of the people who run the noodle stalls and small printing shops on the side streets nearby, who often live above their shops — I shudder to imagine what winter nights must be like for them.

I’ve been told that the reason there’s no heating in Wuhan is that Mao once decided that north of the Yangtze River, buildings should have heating in the winter, while south of the Yangtze River, heating was unnecessary. Wuhan is right on the Yangtze River — half of the city is actually north of the river, and half is south. So we’re far enough north to have pretty cold winters, but we’re considered to be south of the river for heating purposes, and thus no heated houses. (To be fair to Wuhan, the heating situation isn’t that different from some places in southern Europe, which also have very hot summers and cold but not freezing winters — it seems like in these kinds of places, buildings are designed mainly to keep out the heat in the summer, since that’s the biggest concern, and buildings designed to stay cool in the summer often also stay cool in the winter. Still, it’s cold.)

My conclusion: if I had money to invest, I would build some apartment blocks with good climate control. People here love to complain about the weather (and there are lots of people in Wuhan from all over the country, who aren’t used to the extremely hot summers and cold winters), so there must be a market for apartments that stay comfortable all through the year. If I just imported some double pane windows, or sealed up the cracks around the windows and doors, I could keep the temperature under control and make a fortune. Or maybe most people are so used to just adding layers when it’s cold that they don’t think unheated buildings are a problem (they’re certainly more environmentally friendly). Either way, if the weather this week is any indication of the winter to come, my heater will be working overtime for the next few months.