More subsidies for workers in extreme conditions

As a cold front sweeps across China, comments such as "people should be given higher wages, as they need heavy jackets and heaters to avoid freezing" have become popular online.

But for street cleaners and other workers laboring in the open air, the cold weather is not a joke. While others enjoy modern heating system indoors, they are laboring outside in freezing conditions. In Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning province, it can be 20 degrees Celsius indoors and minus 16 degrees outdoors - two different worlds.

Outdoor working conditions will further worsen over the weekend and many provinces will see their lowest recorded temperatures in years.