The government has ordered some 460,000 troops deployed to clear snow, as China's top officials move to prevent the crisis becoming a political issue.
The moves comes as an unusually harsh winter, bringing weeks of heavy snowfall, has paralyzed transport across eastern, central and southern provinces and stretched food and energy supplies to the limit.
"The People's Liberation Army has ordered its troops to go all out to help those battling the heavy snow," the China Daily said.