URUMQI - The coldest weather in decades has forced all primary schools, which educate 40,000 pupils, in Shihezi, in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, to suspend classes.

Many roads have been blocked by snow and ice in Shihezi, a sub-prefecture-level city in northern Xinjiang, after it was hit hard by the biggest plunge in temperature so far this winter, with the lowest temperature reaching -41 C, according to the local meteorological bureau.

"We've decided to close all primary schools in the city and nearby reclamation farms of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on Thursday and Friday," an officer surnamed Chang of Shihezi Education Bureau told China Daily on Friday.