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Many parts of North China were hit by heavy snowfall on Sunday, leaving cars stranded on highways and leading to the deaths of three tourists who were stranded overnight on the Great Wall.

According to the China Meteorological Administration, a vicious cold front was to continue hitting most parts of the capital on Sunday night, as well as the central and eastern parts of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and northern and western parts of Hebei province.

The weather earlier in the day and the previous night had turned deadly for one group of tourists.

Four Japanese travelers and one Chinese were trapped at an unrestored section of the Great Wall in Hebei's Huailai county on Saturday night, China News Service reported, quoting sources in the county's publicity bureau. A guide who was with the group left to get help, and three of the Japanese tourists died.

The two survivors were in a hospital on Sunday night and were in stable condition, Huailai authorities said.

In Beijing, the city's downtown was not greatly affected by the snow, but many of its expressways that connect it to other places were congested.

Badaling Expressway, a busy artery that runs toward Beijing's northwest, was closed for more than three hours on Sunday morning because of snow, the Beijing Municipal Transport Commission said.

About 1,000 vehicles were stuck on the road. In some places, the snow was 80 cm deep, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The same day, authorities raised a weather alert from blue to orange, indicating the second-most severe conditions in the four-level system. The alert remained at that level until 6 pm.

Transport links throughout the capital and surrounding areas were affected by the bad weather.

A spokesman for Beijing Capital International Airport said that, by 11:30 am on Sunday, 23 flights had been canceled and another five flights had been delayed by more than an hour. Flight schedules had returned to normal by 2 pm.

Traffic authorities took temporary measures on several expressways that were severely covered by snow or rainwater, or roads with slippery surfaces.

One bright side to the cold front is that many cities in North China have decided to switch on their heating systems earlier than usual.

The Beijing Municipal Commission of City Administration and Environment fired up its boilers on Sunday instead of waiting until Nov 15, as it usually does. And Shenyang, Liaoning province, and Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, started theirs last week.

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

CJ Henderson is a foreign expert for China Daily's online culture department. CJ is a graduate of the University of Sydney where she completed a Bachelors degree in Media and Communications, Government and International Relations, and American Studies. CJ has four years of experience working across media platforms, including work for 21st Century Newspapers in Beijing, and a variety of media in Australia and the US.