We drove through verdant farmland toward the Sichuan provincial capital Chengdu, past miles of withered cornfields and heavy traffic back toward the mountains. With hydroelectricity production declining, The authorities have applied energy saving Power outages shut businesses down and render air conditioners useless. People are fleeing to higher, cooler land.
The subway stations lost power. At night, the buildings are dark and the street lights dim. We fled the deserted streets one day for shelter in a shopping mall, hoping to cool off, but electrical limitations made it as hot and humid as the outdoors.
A city of more than 20 million people has become practically impossible.
Chengdu is not alone. At least 262 weather stations across the country forced or set new heat records, and rivers that were vital for shipping and traffic became untenable. Water levels in the Yangtze River, the world’s third longest river, hit a record low, falling up to 20 feet below the recent average.
Chickens died or Struggling to lay eggsPigs were hoisted down by fire trucks to keep cool and Sichuan’s famous panda lying on the blocks of ice. People deliver food to their apartments with buckets and ropes because the power outage keeps the elevators out of service. Some simply hide into underground tunnels to stay cool.
The Chinese have a phrase, “China’s Three Furnace”, which refers to the trio of cities – Chongqing, Nanjing and Wuhan – best avoided during their famously sweltering summer. But in the harsh summer of 2022, half of China has turned into a giant furnace.
Despite being located in a milder coastal climate, Shanghai provided little respite when we returned home. The mercury has skyrocketed here, China’s largest city, this summer, consistently rose over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and prompted authorities to issue many public safety warnings for extremely high temperatures. There’s little you can do other than curl up at home, run the air conditioning all the way, which we’ve been doing almost non-stop since June. I’ve lived in China for several years, and every summer seems to be worse than the last.
