Heavy rain swept across northern China, including Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, on Thursday, with some areas experiencing strong winds and traffic disruptions.
Tianjin has seen heavy rain since Thursday night. As of 9:00 Friday, the average rainfall across the municipality over the past 12 hours was 9.4 millimeters, with the maximum rainfall of 28.2 millimeters recorded in the Jinnan District.
The weather bureau of Tianjin predicts that the rain will continue until midnight. The rainfall will help improve soil moisture and lower the risk of forest fires.
Meanwhile, many areas in Hebei Province have seen rainfall since Thursday. The Hebei meteorological department issued a blue alert for rainstorm on Friday.
Some regions in Chengde, Zhangjiakou, Xingtai, Baoding, and Handan are experiencing heavy and torrential rain. The traffic management authorities in Handan have deployed more officers to direct traffic.
The rainfall that began on Thursday in downtown Beijing continued into Friday. A blue alert for wind was issued, with gusts reaching levels 6 to 7. The rain is expected to last until Friday night.
Heavy rain hits north China
China and Canada are complementary in their resources and the two countries can tap the full potential of their win-win cooperation for their good, former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien said in Beijing.
He made the remarks during an exclusive interview with China Media Group (CMG) ahead of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's visit to China.
Carney will pay an official visit to China from January 14 to 17, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Monday.
"I hope that the visit of the prime minister of Canada, it will be a new departure in the relation between Canada and China. And because of the turmoil created by the president of the United States, we are looking for diversifying our economy with other nations. And my judgment always said that China and Canada are complementary. You have the people, we have the land, we have the resources, and we have some people, too. So, we can help each other to grow in peace and prosperity," he said.
Regarding how to resolve differences, Chretien said dialog is always the best way out.
"I believe in dialog. If we have disagreement, we have to talk about it. But at the end, every nation is a sovereign nation. So, we have to respect that, too. It's internal decision by the people of China to decide the future of China like it is for the Canadians to decide the future of Canada," he said.
China, Canada should leverage complementarity for mutual benefit: former Canadian PM
