CLIMATE IN CRISIS

THIS SUMMER’S EXTREME WEATHER IS A WAKE-UP CALL ON CLIMATE CHANGE

“I feel lucky that I can leave the office alive every day,” a Zhihu user named Zhang Shufen wrote on the Chinese Q&A platform,describing having to work in 40-degree Celsius heat with no air conditioning or electric fans,on the third day after the Sichuan Electric Power Corporation declared it would shut off industrial power usage in the province on August 20 to conserve residential electricity during the summer’s extreme heat wave.

Others were not so lucky: As of August 20,China had recorded at least 35 deaths from heatstroke this year,many of them factory or construction workers having to work long shifts outdoors or without air-conditioning.One insurance investigator reported that his company recorded 100 deaths of air-conditioner technicians between this June and September,an increase of 100 percent over 2021,due to a rise in demands to install and repair outside units this summer.

The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) has published daily heat alerts more than 30 times since late June in Sichuan province and Chongqing municipality,and since the organization issued its first red alert—the highest in its four-tier weather warning system—for extreme heat on August 12,Sichuan province,the northwestern Shaanxi province,the central Hubei province,and the eastern Jiangsu province all had days of over 42 Celsius.Chen Lijuan,an expert at the National Climate Center,told Xinhua News that this summer recorded the largest number of consecutive days of high temperatures since 1961,when a regional heat wave lasted 62 days.“With global warming as a backdrop,heat waves will be the new normal,” Chen predicted.

Across the world,temperatures exceeded 40 Celsius in several countries such as France and the UK.Meanwhile,North America was also affected by the heat wave and the Greenland Ice Sheet’s melting season has extended into September,making it the longest on record,according to NASA.

The high temperatures have brought a series of secondary disasters.Many parts of China suffered from drought,including Henan province,which produces one-fourth of the wheat in the country.On August 19,Henan’s agricultural and meteorological department released a drought risk alert,warning of severe impacts on the autumn harvest season.By late August,water levels in Poyang Lake in Jiangxi province,China’s biggest freshwater lake,had dropped from 19.43 meters in July to 7.1 meters,the lowest recorded in history.

Also in August,wildfires swept Chongqing,Sichuan,Guizhou,and other parts of southwestern China.Power rationing in Sichuan,a province highly dependent on hydroelectricity,was extended from five days to ten days this summer due to high demand combined with lack of water in August,with provincial authorities warning of similar shortages next year.

“Each incident of extreme weather should be a wake-up call to the human race,” Zhou Bing,the chief expert at the National Climate Center,told Xinhua News in August.It’s estimated that extreme heat has affected more than 900 million people in China this year since June,and that the economy has suffered nearly 28.6 billion yuan in losses from all natural disasters combined in 2022.

To deal with climate change,China’s State Council announced in 2021 that it would stop building coal-power projects internationally and reduce its carbon emissions to 65 percent of its 2005 levels by 2030.By this date,China also plans to cut its usage of fossil fuels down to 25 percent of all non-renewable energy sources,increase its forest coverage to 6 billion cubic meters,and generate over 1.2 billion kilowatts of solar and wind power.But as extreme weather starts to generate visible,deadly consequences for human livelihoods,the clock is ticking on finding a solution.–ANITA HE(賀文文)

NO TO KIMONO

A woman posing for photos in a Japaneseyukatarobe on Suzhou’s Huaihai Street,a Kyoto-themed commercial district,was detained by police for “provoking quarrels,” with videos showing the officer shouting,“Aren’t you Chinese?” before taking her away.The woman tells Beijing Youth Daily that at the station,the officer deleted her photos and took away her garments including shoes and socks,citing them as “tools of crime.”Some netizens applauded the policeman for his “patriotism,”while others condemned his narrowmindedness and overstepping of legal bounds.In recent months,various artworks and people have faced public condemnation for supposedly lacking patriotism or hurting national integrity.In early August,Beijing’s UCCA Center for Contemporary Art closed an exhibition after netizens complained that a painting by artist Li Songsong resembled a portrait of Japanesekamikazepilots.In June,illustrations in elementary school math textbooks were reported for being sexually suggestive,“uglifying Chinese people,” and containing “stars and stripes” elements resembling the American flag.—SIYI CHU(褚司怡)

BETEL BANNED

The death of singer Fu Song from oral cancer on September 10 has triggered nationwide calls to ban the sale ofbinglang(also known as areca or betel nut),a carcinogenic berry the 36-year-old was addicted to chewing.Months before his death,Fu posted a video warning the public to stay away from the fruit.Though home to over 60 millionbinglangconsumers,China has been setting tighter controls on the fruit,an addictive stimulant popular in the southern Hunan and Hainan provinces.National authorities listedbinglangas a first-class carcinogen in 2017,and banned allbinglangadvertising on radio,television,and online last year.This September,cities like Yiwu in Zhejiang,Nanchang in Jiangxi,and Chengdu in Sichuan issued notices prohibitingbinglangfrom being sold as a food item.However,a total ban on a fruit backed by a billion-yuan industry and centuries of cultural significance still faces opposition from locals.—YANG TINGTING(楊婷婷)

PADS UNAVAILABLE

A female passenger on China’s high-speed rail faced abuse online for suggesting trains should sell female sanitary products onboard,inspired by an awkward experience on a recent journey when she had to ask for a menstrual pad from a train attendant.In response to an online post the passenger made about her experience,Chinese train authorities stated that menstrual pads were “personal items”and they would not consider her suggestion.Various netizens also lambasted the passenger for her supposed “entitlement,” spread misinformation about menstruation,and called women’s sanitary products a “minority need.”Conservative notions and poor sex education have contributed to multiple debates about “period shame” in China in recent years,such as when female medical workers were criticized for calling for donations of pads during the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan in 2020,or a group of Shanghai university students mocked for placing boxes of free pads around campus.—HATTY LIU