The Most Cool
and Uncool Cities in China
1 Aug 2007
Historically there
were three Chinese cities - namely Wuhan, Chongqing and Nanjing - being labelled as
China's furnaces, in the other words the most
uncool places in the country, for the sin of
having nearly 20 steamy-hot days with a
temperature at 35° C and over during the
summer season.
But thanks to the
global warming, and rapid urbanisation and
economic development, bringing with them the
eco-unfriendly concrete and
glass high-rises, polluted air conditioning
and motor vehicles, flaming ovens emerge one
after another, not just steaming, but almost
boiling, making the old furnaces seem a bit
lukewarm.
Therefore in the
spirit of a fair go, new hot icons have
been chosen by some mainland and Hong Kong
medias, and this time it is Fuzhou in Fujian
province - the original homeland of the
majority residents in the
neighbouring Taiwan province - winning
the title of the number one furnace of China,
with Guangzhou and Hangzhou claiming the
second and third prizes.
The selection itself,
however, appears to have further contributed
to the uncoolness, since it has provoked
a heated debate across China's cyber space
regarding its fairness.
Not all parts of
China are flaming with soaring temperature
and temper, somehow. Beijing, for instance, is
very cool, so cool that in the middle of the
summer it snowed, allegedly.
On 30 July, white
snowflakes reportedly descended in the east
part of the capital. Enventhough it only
lasted for five minutes before developed into
a heavy downpour, people working and living
around the East Third Ring area had
experienced swift shift of the seasons, from
deep winter to midsummer.
Snowing, hie ...
So, despite what is happening in
the world this summer, Beijing
remains seasoned and cool.
P.s. Beijing
Meteorological Bureau denied Wednesday that
the Chinese capital was seasoned and cool on
Monday.
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