More than 100 news photographers have contributed over 220 photographs to the book, compiled by China Daily and sponsored by Beijing Bicycle Rental Co. China Federation of Literary and Art Circles Publishing Corporation has published the book.

The photographs are a record of the joint fight staged by thousands of officials, army personnel and people against one of the worst natural disasters to hit the country.

What made the fight even more difficult was the timing of the sleet and snow: just before Spring Festival when the greatest mass of people in the world moves across the country.

"These pictures, taken by our photographers with high sense of social responsibility, made us experience what actually happened out there and what people had to go through during the snow," said Zhu Ling, editor-in-chief of China Daily.

Dutch embassy's press and political affairs officer Wendy Jansen said: "I was shocked and deeply moved by the vivid photographs. They give us an opportunity to know what really happened during those days."

"The book, which was published so quickly, is a precious record of the extraordinary experience," Jansen said.

For Beijing Canadian International School director Francis Pang, the book means a lot not only to China, but also to the rest of the world because it "reminds us that we should pay attention" to the environmental problems behind the disaster.

"This book came out so timely that it will urge people to think about the environment we are living in and depend on," Pang said.

Qiao Tianfu, one of the contributors and a reporter from the People's Liberation Army Daily, said: "I saw the glorious spirit shine when I clicked people fighting against the disaster, especially the military personnel who are always the first to rush to the dangerous frontline."

The photographs shocked a Russian student of Peking University's international relations department, too. "I know about the heavy snow but I never thought it was so severe and cost so much. Chinese people and the government were terrific in overcoming the disaster."