Unusually severe winter weather is causing chaos in China, and wrecking travel plans for hundreds of thousands of people ahead of a major holiday. Icy temperatures, snow and sleet have hit central, eastern and southern regions, as millions of Chinese head home to celebrate next week's Lunar New Year.

Many are migrant workers and this is the only chance they have to visit relatives.

In Beijing, it remains cold but clear. There, thousands of would-be rail travellers have been trying in vain to return to the provinces.

"It is hard to get tickets," says one man.
"If I can get them today, that is okay. If it is tomorrow, that is fine, too. I don't care when I go, as long as it is before the New Year."

Mass migration surrounding the Chinese New Year puts a strain on public transport at the best of times.

The extreme conditions have made road travel treacherous, with 25 people reported killed when a bus plunged from a snowy mountain highway.

Around 50 people have died in total in the freak weather which has also prompted power cuts.

Technicians trying to restore supplies face an often perilous task and several workers have been killed attempting to repair iced-up power lines.