As temperatures soared past 40°C in late July, Chongqing residents sought relief in subway stations, rivers, and bomb shelters, prompting a red alert amid record-breaking heat.
Temperatures above 40°C (104°F) have scorched Chongqing, the southwestern Chinese city famed for its spicy hotpot and neon-lit skyline, prompting residents to find creative ways to stay cool.
“It’s just getting hotter,” said 60-year-old Liu Fengying, who spent the afternoon playing cards and sharing snacks with around 100 retirees inside a cool, air-conditioned subway entrance.
“There’s no better way to escape the heat. Even with the AC set to 17°C last night, it was still unbearable,” she added.
The extreme heat gripping China has pushed electricity demand to record highs, surpassing 1.5 billion kilowatts, with July alone seeing four new records set.
Chongqing raised its heat alert to the highest red level on Thursday after a full week of 40°C-plus days. Forecasters say 21 of the city's 38 districts could see temperatures reach 43°C, with 44°C expected on Sunday.
Normally, the city of nearly 32 million rarely experiences July temperatures above 39°C – already considered extreme by global standards. This year, the number of days above 35°C since May has been twice the usual average.
Still, many locals are taking it in stride.
Xie, a 79-year-old resident, was among a group of swimmers cooling off in a Yangtze River tributary at sunset.
“Chongqing has always been one of China’s furnace cities, but we have the river,” he said before diving in.
Elsewhere, 36-year-old Qiu Xianhui and his friends braved the heat for a hotpot dinner in a former bomb shelter-turned-restaurant, where the underground air stays naturally cool.
“We’re used to temperatures above 40°C. This is nothing new for us,” he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to make the Strait of Hormuz part of U.S. territory have been mocked by Iran's Deputy Foreign Ministe...
Five years ago today, Taliban fighters entered Kabul, completing a rapid takeover of Afghanistan as the former government collapsed....
For fishermen along Pakistan’s southwestern coast, the consequences of the U.S.-Iran conflict are being felt far from the battlefield....
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled or rerouted at Catania Airport over the past week as ash from Mount Etna’s ongoing eruption continues to disrupt air travel in Sicily.
Wildfires across England and Wales have reached their highest level on record, according to the National Fire Chiefs Council, as firefighters struggle to contain outbreaks following a spell of extreme heat.
The U.S. will impose unprecedented measures on Iran in order to economically isolate the country, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said.
U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to make the Strait of Hormuz part of U.S. territory have been mocked by Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, who said the sea passage "cannot be seized by tweet."
At least 47 people have been killed after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia early on Saturday, triggering small tsunami waves and dozens of aftershocks, officials say.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised deepening ties with North Korea, saying Moscow and Pyongyang are coordinating their efforts to ensure “regional security and stability”.
Russia and Ukraine traded large-scale overnight attacks targeting energy, industrial and military facilities on Saturday, with a three-month-old baby killed and 11 people injured in a Russian drone strike on a residential building in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.
At least 47 people have been killed after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia early on Saturday, triggering small tsunami waves and dozens of aftershocks, officials say.
Jason Arday, the former University of Cambridge professor at the centre of a plagiarism row, has been found dead. He was appointed Cambridge's youngest ever Black professor in 2023, but quit on 5 August, after being accused of lifting passages from his PhD from the work of other academics.
Wildfires across England and Wales have reached their highest level on record, according to the National Fire Chiefs Council, as firefighters struggle to contain outbreaks following a spell of extreme heat.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment