Rain and hail battered parts of north China's Hebei Province and the neighboring municipality of Tianjin on Thursday.
In Gu'an County, Hebei's Langfang City, local meteorological authorities issued an orange alert for hail at noon. About 15 minutes later, the area experienced heavy rain, strong winds, and hail, which lasted more than 10 minutes.
In downtown Tianjin, heavy rain arrived Thursday afternoon, accompanied by wind gusts of up to force six to eight. Hail was reported in some other areas, forcing vehicles to slow to a crawl.
The severe convective weather lasted roughly 30 to 40 minutes before the rain began to ease.
Rain, hail hit Hebei,Tianjin
A wide range of ecological and environmental protection activities were held in China to mark the World Environment Day on Friday, aimed at encouraging public participation in green transition across the country to build a beautiful China.
Jointly organized by Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao for the first time, the National Event on the Environment Day 2026 -- the national main event, released the 2025 China Ecological Environment Status Bulletin, outlining the leapfrog improvement in China's ecological environment quality over the past decade.
Meanwhile, various regions across China rolled out a rich variety of themed activities to engage wide public involvement in environmental protection.
In Beijing, the Ecological Culture Week kicked off, featuring interactive activities such as micro-sitcom creation and AI animation science popularization to spread ecological culture and green development concepts.
In the Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province, students and their parents collaborated to paint a 100-meter-long ecological scroll. Their works, centered on themes including lucid waters and lush mountains, water conservation, and garbage classification, helped deepen participants' ecological awareness.
Luzhou City in southwest China's Sichuan Province brought environmental education to real-world settings, holding small environmental protection classes at local sewage treatment plants and environmental protection image museums. Participants gained a firsthand appreciation of the hard work behind ecological governance through guided tours and film screenings.
Beyond individual cities, cross-regional collaboration also took center stage. Hangzhou in east China's Zhejiang Province and Huangshan in east China's Anhui Province jointly launched an ecological protection action, releasing over 10,000 black amur bream fry into the Qiandao Lake to help improve water quality.
Simultaneously, the two provinces initiated joint cross-provincial fishery law enforcement, further solidifying practical cooperation in trans-regional ecological management.
China celebrates the World Environment Day on June 5 every year, coinciding with the United Nations' global observance to promote global environmental awareness and action.
Diverse activities held across China to mark Environment Day
