Blizzards, ice, snow and bitterly cold winds. It all adds up to a challenging winter for China’s farmers. And in Northern China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, this winter has been one of the worst ever.

China's educational authorities have launched a new subsidy program offering financial support for students from ethnic minorities. The program, which kicked off at the beginning of this year, aims to give China's minority students a chance at a better education.

China's State Ethnic Affairs Commission in conjunction with China Construction Bank recently launched the support fund for college students from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The support fund will offer scholarships and fellowships to poor students in China's 16 minority areas including the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Tibet Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. It will provide each student with an annual subsidy of about 3000 yuan; the equivalent of around 400 U.S. dollars.

Reyila is a Uyghur student. Although both of her parents both work, their combined salaries are not enough to support tuition fees for their three children.

The Siberian weather has already caused transportation chaos in the Chinese capital; several provinces across the country are already rationing electricity or implementing other power saving moves, to reduce the strain on the national grids. And shipping remains disrupted in the Bohai Gulf, as the worst sea ice in 3 decades continues to challenge coastal authorities.

However, it's the regions of Northern China which have been hit hardest by this extreme and cruel weather. 4 people have died and over 100,000 homes have been destroyed in Xinjiang, in China's far Northwest, as a result of the heaviest snowfalls in 10 years, and 15,200 head of livestock are estimated to have died as a direct result of the weather.

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in Northern China has also been badly affected by the weather. So far, two people have been reported dead, including one student who got lost returning home from school in a blizzard and died of exposure.

The 5th National Conference on Tibet held recently in Beijing heard that the central government had invested $45 billion in aid to the region over the past nine years. This figure, it was said, had helped "boost Tibet's leapfrog development" and achieve "lasting stability."

The meeting, which was attended by President Hu Jintao, and other top leaders, also heard that efforts would be made to "greatly improve the living standards" of people in Tibet to national levels by 2020.

However, the outbreak of violent riots in early 2008 - in the Tibet Autonomous Region and other areas with large Tibetan populations - indicated that simply throwing more cash at the region may not be enough. China blamed the Dalai Lama and exiled Tibetan groups for the violence.

He denies any involvement in the unrest and says he supports greater autonomy for Tibet, not independence. And at the recent work meeting, President Hu said that the central government would continue to "prevent and crack down" on separatist activities.

The cold snap in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region that started earlier this week brought a white Christmas to most parts of the far west. Now the arctic weather is spreading to other parts of northern and central China – and even the warmer south hasn't escaped completely.

China's National Meteorological Center said the blizzard that affected most parts of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region earlier this week had died down, but temperatures had kept plunging.

Yesterday's morning lows in the north of Xinjiang averaged minus 30 degrees centigrade.

The ancient silk road, forests, desert, sand dunes and a treasure trove of flora and fauna: every year, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in the centre of Asia attracts huge numbers of tourists from all over the world. In the first half of the year, the region welcomed 1 million visitors. But on July fifth all that changed.