People living in the mountain area in Zhejiang used a very large clay pot with simmering ashes and charcoal to keep warm.
It snows every year around the Chinese New Year. I don't know how they could get by.
Life is hard for farmers. It still is. But I'll not have to witness it anymore. My own life is full of disappointment too, even though I don't feel cold in winter. I live in a place with very mild climate and rarely have any snow in winter. Never will a person feel satisfied with his life. No matter what the situation is, life is a constant struggle for seeking meaningfulness, appreciation and attention. We just can't trust the feeling that we get it right because no one can control what others think about him/her. No one can predict how to react to the world the next moment when things happen, when people reject our request or when it goes against our way.
Winter or summer, we suffer from our own thoughts. Even when everything seems going on fine, it's never any peace inside. In the cold winters of the mountains, people struggle to keep warm and it makes them forget about their perpetual thirst for humanly warmth, for love and being loved. Sitting in a heated room, we are lack of something similar, the trust. We don't trust the outside world, the next day's weather and the coming of Spring.
