Scenic spots in Dunhuang City in northwest China's Gansu Province have rolled out emergency measures to cope with extreme summer heat as temperatures have exceeded 40 degrees Celsius for several days.
At the Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Spring Scenic Area, mist-spraying devices have been installed at busy spots such as ticket gates. More than 200 spray points have also been set up along camel trails and sightseeing routes, with free cooling tea available at visitor centers.
"The public address system keeps reminding visitors to take precautions against the summer heat and sunstroke, avoid the afternoon hours, and call the scenic area's rescue hotline if needed," said Li Xuan, a tourist.
Medical staff and ambulances have been stationed at crowded areas such as the Yuequan Pavilion and Xiaoquan Bay to ensure immediate assistance for visitors in need.
To protect the camels from the scorching heat, the scenic area has introduced a three-shift rotation system to ensure the animals have enough rest. Their health is closely monitored: an upright hump indicates they are well-hydrated and in good condition, and bright, alert eyes indicate they are energetic and healthy even under the scorching sun.
At the Yangguan Pass and Yumen Pass tourist site, additional cooling measures have also been put in place.
"We regularly deploy water-spraying trucks along visitor routes and offer heatstroke prevention supplies and medicines. Chrysanthemum tea is also available for visitors," said Wu Fengping, manager of the Yangguan Pass scenic area.
Scenic spots in northwest China's Dunhuang act to beat summer heat as temperatures soar
The uncertainty of Chinese AI and semiconductor industries has led to volatility in China's stock markets this week, said China Global Television Network (CGTN) analyst Timothy Pope on Friday.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was down 1.61 percent to 3,814.20 points on the day.
The Shenzhen Component Index closed 2.47 percent lower at 13,774.68 points, while ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, lost 2.65 percent to close at 3,480.87 points.
"It was a volatile week for the Chinese mainland markets, particularly for technology stocks. We saw some very strong gains in the middle of the week, but today brought a reality check for AI and semiconductor shares. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.6 percent by the close today, although it still finished 1.3 percent above last Friday's close. The Shenzhen Component and ChiNext also fell sharply today but remained higher over the week," said Pope.
Friday's drop, according to Pope, was due to the profit-taking from the tech-related industries.
"By Tuesday, AI stocks were looking a bit oversold following last week's rout. We saw new Chinese model releases like Kimi K3 also causing a bit of a stir, restoring some longer-term confidence in the sector's viability. And in fact, demand for some of those models was strong enough for developers to suspend new subscriptions while they expanded their computing capacity at the back end. But this week's trading also really illustrates the uncertainty surrounding the valuations of Chinese AI and semiconductor companies. Many of them are trading at demanding multiples of their expected earnings, but technology, of course, remains the main engine of the current market rally. And that is creating quite a short cycle of news-driven gains, followed then very quickly by profit-taking," the analyst said.
China's stock markets suffer volatility as uncertainty of AI, semiconductor sectors emerges: analyst
