The BBC’s Martin Patience: “In Shanghai it’s absolutely sweltering”
Temperatures in parts of China have hit record highs, prompting an emergency level-two nationwide heat alert for the first time.
In Shanghai, at least 10 people have died from heatstroke, as the city experiences its hottest July in 140 years, reports say.
Local journalists have demonstrated the heat by frying meat on the pavement.
The national heat alert covers nine provinces, including Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan, Hubei, Shanghai and Chongqing.
According to figures from the Shanghai Meteorological bureau, Shanghai has seen 24 days with temperatures at or above 35C in July.
“It should be a new record since Shanghai had its own weather recording,” said chief service officer Wu Rui.
“Also, in July of this year Shanghai reached 40.6 degrees Celsius, its highest ever temperature. So the highest temperature in July also broke a record.”
In other parts of China, water parks are attracting huge crowds, like this one in Wuhan, Hubei province.
More than 10 people in Shanghai have died after suffering from heatstroke, state-run news agency Xinhua said, citing health officials.
In a TV report, journalists from Shanghai TV said they successfully fried a pork chop on a marble slab outdoors in just 10 minutes.
The practice appears to have become popular, with