This winter's temperatures have been unusually high - a fact that does not exactly warm Ms Yao's heart. The warm weather is dampening her enthusiasm as a salesperson at Bosideng Corporation, the leading producer of down garments in China.

Bosideng has seen a sharp decrease in sales this winter. "We contact the Central Meteorological Station (CMS) almost every day to find out when temperatures will drop," Yao said. She would not reveal the exact figures of Bosideng's loss this winter.

CMS official Gao Ge said the average temperature from December 1 to 15 in 2004 was 2.84 C. This is 2.61 C higher than in an average year and is the second highest since 1961.

As well as Yao, Zhang Xinsheng, manager of Shengfeng Company in Nanjing, the capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, is also experiencing chilly sales this winter. His company sells various brands of heaters.

But declining sales of winter goods are not the only problems caused by warm temperatures.

"Warm winters activate many viruses and bacteria leading to diseases," Nanjing University professor Yu Zhihao said. "If bacteria doesn't die from the cold in a warm winter, it will run rampant in the spring."

Cheng Zhongming, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said warm winters disturb plants' biological cycles and upset the natural balance. But he did list some benefits. "High temperatures help us to save energy and ease the pressure on electric power supply," he said. "Vegetable supply can be guaranteed too."

But a report on greenhouse gas emissions says climate change could cut China's food production by 10 per cent by 2050. Given the current conditions, the damage would hit China between 2030 and 2050, Yu said.

The report is based on an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions carried out between 1990 and 1994, and was presented at the 10th annual UN climate change conference.

The trend in China corresponds to the general trend of global climate change, the report said. The 1990s was one of the warmest decades in the last 100 years. Since the 1950s, the sea level has risen along China's coast, a trend has become significantly more obvious in the past few years, the report said.

Skiing this winter is one pastime that residents in Beijing have had to do without this year.

All the major resorts in suburban areas put off their opening date. Several have closed down because of the cost of making artificial snow.

Source: China Daily