VZCZCXRO8606
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHGZ #0063 0350911
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 040911Z FEB 08
FM AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6852
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASH DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC

UNCLAS GUANGZHOU 000063 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELTN SOCI PGOV ELAB ECON CH
SUBJECT: Large Numbers of Travelers Depart Guangzhou; Up to One 
Million Still Waiting 
 
 
(U) This document is sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Guangzhou's main train station continues to draw 
travelers, with estimates that as many as one million people remain 
stranded in South China. In the wake of two train-station-related 
deaths over the weekend, police erected additional roadblocks 
outside Friday's half-mile perimeter and now enforce strict access 
control, only allowing valid ticket holders near the train station. 
Authorities have created numerous special channels to transport 
passengers from city shelters to the station.  Though power outages 
in parts of Guangdong continue, bus service has resumed after 
soldiers were sent to clear the province's icy northern roads.  End 
summary. 
 
¶2. (U) As many as 1 million people in Guangzhou are still waiting to 
travel home before New Year's Eve on February 6, according to media 
reports.  Guangzhou Railway Company reportedly boarded 600,000 
passengers onto departing trains February 1-3.  Though no injury 
figures have been released, at least two people have died: a man 
from Hunan Province died February 1 from electrical burns suffered 
after jumping from an overpass onto an electric train; and a female 
watch factory worker from Hubei Province was trampled to death at 
Guangzhou's Railway Station Square February 2. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Police instituted strict access control procedures February 
4 and erected additional security barriers more than 1/2 mile from 
Railway Station Square.  Congenoffs witnessed police deny entry to 
anyone without a valid train ticket for the current date of travel 
or the previous five days.  Travelers slowly moved in groups through 
holding areas and checkpoints every 200 yards along main roads 
leading to the train station.  Crowds that had previously gathered 
outside the station square have been disbursed, with the number of 
police equaling that of travelers at certain points inside the 
newly-reinforced security perimeter. 
 
¶4. (U) Authorities have established a special waiting area for 
pregnant women and families with small children at a conference 
center near the train station, providing departure announcements at 
the shelter area and shuttle bus service to the train station.  Bus 
passengers arriving from outside Guangzhou were taken to the new 
Canton Fair Pazhou Convention Center and given discounted meals as 
they waited for their train departures.  Special non-stop subway 
trains convey passengers directly from the Pazhou shelter to the 
train station. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Despite ongoing power outages in northern Guangdong 
Province affecting almost 750,000 residents, traffic along southern 
stretches of the Beijing-Zhuhai Highway resumed February 3. 
Thousands of power company workers and soldiers have been sent to 
restore power and clear ice from frozen roadways in recent days, 
with party officials visiting affected areas to inspect conditions. 
Congenoff witnessed frequent departures at Guangzhou Bus Station 
February 4, although many northern routes were delayed or cancelled 
due to dangerous road conditions. 
 
GOLDBERG