In the sandstone desert of far western China, a local weather station recorded an all-time high temperature of 126 degrees. In central China, mechanical problems caused by the heat trapped tourists riding an aerial cable car.
The heat wave gripping China is so intense that it became a recurring talking point for John Kerry, President Biden’s special envoy for climate change, when he met with China’s premier on Tuesday in Beijing to discuss cooperation in slowing global warming.
“You and I know that things are changing,” Mr. Kerry told the premier, Li Qiang, as he sat in the Great Hall of the People, on the edge of Tiananmen Square. He cited temperature reports in the western region of Xinjiang on Sunday; a commentator at the meteorological association of China had called it the highest he knows in the country.
“In recent weeks, scientists have expressed more concern than ever about what’s happening on the planet,” said Mr. Kerry, who also met separately with Wang Yi, the top foreign policy official. of China.
Indeed, the Chinese capital itself offers further proof of the urgency of combating climate change: Tuesday was the 27th day this year that Beijing recorded temperatures above 35 Celsius, or 95 degrees Fahrenheit. — the most number of days in a year since records began. .
The heat wave, which has engulfed much of northwest China, as well as parts of the northeast and southwest, is part of a global heat wave. A large part of the United States is also bracing for record-breaking temperatures. Experts have called several days in early July likely the hottest in Earth’s modern history.
Mr. Kerry said he hoped China would curb the rapid expansion of coal plants, and reduce its use of methane, a greenhouse gas. China has resisted taking those steps, arguing that it is a developing country that must continue to use fossil fuels to support its economic development. Mr. Kerry’s visit to Beijing this week marks the resumption of climate talks between the United States and China, the world’s biggest polluter, that have been stalled since August.
In China, the country’s average surface temperature has risen faster than the global average since the early 20th century, according to a report this month of China’s National Climate Center. Last year, as the country was hit by another extended heat wave, China recorded its most “extreme high temperature events” since 1961. Leaders suggested the heat could threaten China’s food security.
A study published in April in the journal Nature Communications identified the area around Beijing as one of the most at risk in the world for extreme heat.
The rising temperature, which officials said has begun two weeks earlier than usual this year, there has been a toll. Beijing, which in late June recorded its first three consecutive days above 104 degrees, has reported at least two heat-related deaths this summer; one was a 48-year-old tour guide who died after leading a group of children to the Summer Palace. State media also reported deaths in Hebei, Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces.
In central Henan Province last week, tourists riding cable cars in a mountainous area were imprisoned in the air for 10 minutes, after the heat caused mechanical issues, according to state media. Officials have warned of potential power shortages, after demand for air conditioning caused extended blackouts last year in parts of the country. Last week, six power stations along the Yangtze River broke records for generating extra electricity, in addition to normal production, set last year, according to official China Energy News.
In the southeastern city of Hangzhou, a powerful storm on Monday left the city “steaming like a sauna,” according to local media, as the raindrops turned to steam upon hitting the scorching pavement. Other cities have opened air raid shelters to residents who want to cool off.
But some residents have few options for avoiding the heat. Around 3pm in Beijing on Tuesday, as the temperature soared to around 97 degrees, a food delivery worker, Yang Chonghao, rested in the shade outside a popular shopping complex. He has worked in recent weeks in 100-plus degree heat, waking up at 6 a.m. and coming home around 8 or 9 p.m. He has given up on wearing sun-blocking sleeves because it is too hot, he said.
“There’s no way to deal with it,” he said of the heat. “Just bear with it.”
The heat has been most intense in Xinjiang’s Turfan Depression, where the desert climate makes it regularly one of the hottest parts of China. Surface temperatures reached the Flaming Mountains there, a popular tourist spot of barren red sandstone 176 degrees on Sunday, China’s state broadcaster said. The record air temperature, which was 126 degrees, was measured in a nearby town.
Officials warn that China is likely to suffer from both drought and flooding this summer. Although most of northern China baked this week, several southern provinces prepared as the first typhoon to make landfall this one came on monday, knocking down trees and cars.
Joy Dong contributed reporting from Hong Kong.
