Everyday heroes arrive in a snap to keep holidays rolling

For several nights, Song Liang, an electricity maintenance worker in Wuhan, Hubei province, has slept with the window of his dormitory room open to make sure he is alert to falling snow and freezing rain.

Song said when he hears a "crackling sound" from frozen rain, he goes outside to check on electrical wires and the power relay station's four towers to see how thick the ice is.