UPDATE 1-Heavy snow in China halts car production

(Recasts first sentence; adds details, DETROIT to dateline)

TOKYO/DETROIT, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Several automakers said on Tuesday that they were canceling some production in China due to heavy snow and power shortages.

Among those that said they were affected were U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Japan's Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Honda Motor Co (7267.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Nissan Motor Co (7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Mazda Motor Corp (7261.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), as well as France's PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

China's worst-ever power shortage and snow storms have plagued parts of the country for weeks. Icy temperatures, snow and sleet blanketing much of central, eastern and southern China have crippled the country's transportation system.

Guangdong province, home to many Japanese car factories, has seen more than a half-million people stranded by severed train and highway services.

"The snowstorm, which began last weekend is the heaviest the city has experienced in half a century," Ford said in a statement of its operations in Nanjing. "The severe weather conditions have caused traffic and gas supply disruptions in the city."

Ford's operations in Nanjing will be closed for three days through Wednesday. They include a research and engineering center, as well as an assembly plant and engine plant it owns with Mazda and Chinese automaker Changan Automobile Group.

Toyota, one of the fastest-growing brands in China, will cancel the second shift at its factory in the southeastern city of Guangzhou and halt production at one of its factories in Tianjin on Wednesday, a spokeswoman in Tokyo said.

Honda suspended its No. 2 Guangzhou plant on Tuesday and will resume work on Wednesday. Its joint venture factory with Dongfeng Motor in Wuhan will cancel work on Wednesday.