Last month's blizzards, the worst in China for half a century, wrought havoc, but as well as causing massive human misery the snowstorms drove food prices to record highs, forcing the biggest rise in inflation in 11 years.

Consumer prices rose a higher-than-forecast 8.7 per cent year-on-year in February, another surging increase straight after a 7.1 per cent rise in January. A survey by the People's Daily Online showed that most Chinese now describe inflation as "unbearable".

Wary of its destabilising effect, the senior leadership in Beijing has identified inflation and the overheating economy as China's two biggest threats. ... Read full article