Amidst extreme heat warnings issued by Chinese authorities for the eastern region, students are seeking refuge from sweltering dormitories by camping in hallways and supermarkets.
Some have opted to leave their campuses entirely.
“We occasionally seek respite in hotels for the air-conditioning,” a 20-year-old university student in Changchun, who requested anonymity, told the BBC. “There are always a few days each year when the heat becomes unbearable.”
Hotels have become a popular choice for students looking to escape stifling nights in dormitories, which typically house four to eight occupants per room and lack air conditioning.
However, this move is often considered a last resort. “Checking into a hotel is a significant expense for students like us,” the Changchun student noted.
On less critical days, he utilizes a “homemade air-conditioner” – a bowl of ice cubes placed in front of a small fan – to cool his dormitory room. This makeshift solution has sustained him through the end of the semester this week.
The sanfu season, traditionally known as China’s “dog days,” usually commences in mid-July. This year, however, it arrived prematurely, with temperatures in the eastern region surpassing 40C (104F) over the past week, catching millions of residents off guard.
Concerns regarding the extreme temperatures escalated following reports of a dormitory guard’s death in his room at Qingdao University on Sunday, suspected to be from heatstroke.
The university released a statement on Monday stating that the cause of death was “under investigation.” The statement indicated that the guard was found in an “abnormal condition” in his room and pronounced dead upon paramedics’ arrival.
Tributes quickly poured in for the man, affectionately known among students as the dormitory “uncle” who cared for stray cats on campus.
“The kittens are unaware that Uncle has gone far away. After today, they will encounter many people, but will never hear Uncle’s voice again,” a Weibo user commented.
The incident has also brought attention to the living conditions of the school’s staff and students. On the same Sunday, a student from the same university was hospitalized after suffering a heat stroke, Jimu News reported.
“The quality of a university is not measured by the number of buildings it possesses, but by how it treats the ordinary individuals who quietly support the school’s operations,” another Weibo user wrote.
China has been grappling with extreme weather conditions in recent weeks, a global phenomenon that experts attribute to climate change.
Chinese authorities issued flash flood warnings on Wednesday after a typhoon made landfall on China’s eastern coast. The storm, responsible for two deaths in Taiwan earlier this week, has since moved across the Chinese provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian.
On the opposite side of the country, floods swept away a bridge connecting Nepal and China, resulting in at least nine fatalities and leaving over a dozen individuals – both Nepalese and Chinese nationals – missing.
Meanwhile, heatwaves in China have been intensifying in both heat and duration.
In 2022, an especially severe heatwave resulted in over 50,000 deaths, according to estimates published in the medical journal The Lancet. The following year, a township in Xinjiang, northwestern China, recorded a temperature of 52.5C – the highest ever recorded in China.
2024 marked China’s warmest year on record, with July becoming the hottest month the country has experienced since it began tracking temperatures in 1961.
“It feels like global warming has significantly impacted our world,” the university student in Changchun stated. “When I was younger, summers in the northeast were quite comfortable. However, summers are now becoming increasingly hot.”
This year, record high temperatures again tested the limits of residents.
Last week, a video surfaced depicting a man in Zhejiang province smashing a train window to allow air in after the train derailed, leaving passengers stranded for hours in the oppressive heat.
In the neighboring Jiangxi province, an air-conditioned restaurant has become a popular haven for elderly individuals to spend their afternoons without purchasing any food, much to the dismay of the restaurant staff, according to local media reports.
In the northeastern Jilin province, university students were reportedly sleeping in tents lining an air-conditioned hallway.
Following reports of students in Shandong province seeking refuge in supermarkets and checking into nearby hotels to escape the heat, a university arranged for its students to sleep in the library, Hongxing News reported.
Several schools in Shandong province have announced plans to equip their dormitories with air-conditioning – an increasingly essential amenity.
Air-conditioning has accounted for over a third of the demand on the power grid in eastern China, according to China’s energy authorities, as nationwide electricity demand reached a record high in early July.
Qingdao University officials told local media on Monday that they also plan to install air-conditioning in student dormitories over the summer break.
This news is welcome for one high school student in Jinan city, located 350km away.
The teenager, who recently completed his college entrance examinations, told the BBC that he had been hesitant to attend Qingdao University – his top choice – due to the condition of its dormitories.
“Without air-conditioning, it’s too hot to survive,” he said.
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