Major cities in China’s southern Guangdong Province experienced sudden widespread blackouts on Dec. 21. The power outages lasted for more than an hour, causing panic among residents. Amid the power usage restrictions enforced by several provinces since last week, the recent incident fuels concern about China’s energy crisis as coal imports from Australia have been banned due to trade disputes between both countries. From midnight until 1 a.m. on Dec. 21, mass power outages put several major cities in Guangdong, including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Huizhou and some parts of Zhuhai, in complete darkness. The Guangdong Power Supply Bureau sent out a notice later that day, which stated that at around midnight [on Dec. 21], some residents in Sanyuanli and Luochongwei of Guangzhou city were affected by “equipment failures”; and the Bureau restored electricity after more than an hour of emergency repairs. The sudden power outage caused many residents …