By Liz Lee and Shubing Wang
DALIAN, Aug 7 (Reuters) – Thousands of holidaymakers flocked to the sea in northeast China to cool down, only to find it was even hotter than back home as a heatwave bakes the region.
Along the pebble beach of Fujiazhuang Park in Dalian, a city famed for its fresh seafood and Yellow Sea coastal sights, beachgoers young and old in bright-coloured floats dotted the water on Friday.
China has seen more frequent heatwaves in recent years due to the impact of climate change. The latest heatwave has swept through northeastern China and broken records in the nearby Korean Peninsula, with South Korea declaring an emergency.
On Friday, the first day of autumn according to the Chinese agricultural calendar, Dalian recorded a high of 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 Fahrenheit). That is nearly 10 degrees Celsius above the average August peak, according to the national forecaster’s data from 1981 to 2010.
“Originally, we thought Dalian would be cooler, because it’s in the northeast. But it turned out to be hotter than in Shanxi where we are from,” said a 44-year-old mother of two, who gave her surname as Miao, referring to her native inland province west of Beijing.
She was wearing a sun-protection jacket, face mask and a wide-brimmed hat, and said she had brought medicine for heatstroke.
Cao, a 62-year-old retiree who brought his grandson to the beach, said summer in Dalian was not as he remembered it.
“This year feels much hotter than usual. It was very comfortable in previous years, and the sea breeze was cool. This year, the sun feels a bit scorching, especially hot.”
The State Grid Corporation of China said this week that high temperatures had driven up power demand to record levels in the northern, northeastern and eastern parts of China, with residents cranking up their air conditioning.
“In past (summers), we could usually manage with air-conditioning for just two weeks, and sometimes we didn’t even need it,” said Feng, 57, at a waterfront spot where locals jump off a metal diving board into the sea. “But this year, we can’t take it any more and have to use air-conditioning. It’s essential.”
(Reporting by Liz Lee, Shubing Wang and Tingshu WangEditing by Peter Graff)
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