If you’re moving, or even visiting China, and you hail from a more temperate country, like the UK, the Chinese weather, particularly the more south you go, may come as a shock. By UK standards, it’s sweltering, to say the least.
So bearing the aforementioned in mind, it’s worthwhile preparing yourself, mentally at least, and having some strategies in place to make the summer months less arduous. You can find accurate details of the temperatures and humidity of most Chinese cities on Wikipedia. My city, Wenzhou, is hot but doesn’t seem particularly hotter than any other city in the southeast side of China. That is, however, until you take the humidity into account.
Wenzhou is hot and sticky. Add the fact that we’re experiencing hotter-than-usual summers across the globe, and this means that life in China over the summer months can be challenging. So here are some top tips for coping with Chinese weather.
1: Replace the term Acclimatise with Coping Mechanisms
If you grew up in western Europe, maritime, or temperate climates, trying to acclimate may well be a futile pursuit. Accepting that you’re not from a sub-tropical climate and adopting techniques and habits to make the weather more bearable is probably a more realistic approach
2: Stay indoors between 11 am and 3 pm
Although mentioning colonial years opens a huge can of worms, a song that hails from that era and that rings true to this day is Noel Coward’s “Mad dogs and English men go out in the midday sun”. The locals don’t. You shouldn’t. Wear at least SPF50 sunblock, and carry an umbrella if you do, regardless of whether your skin contains high levels of melanin, or not!
3: Always carry an umbrella
Although we may associate umbrellas with rain, utilising them on a hot day is surprisingly effective at keeping your overall temperature down. Perhaps it is a no-brainer, but it’s not habitual if you’re from a cooler country. It’s a great habit to adopt.
4: Don’t drink cold drinks
The Chinese tend to favour warm water. Granted, you don’t drink tap water in China; you need to boil it first. But there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that hot drinks can actually help keep your body temperature down. Drinking a hot drink results in a lower amount of heat stored in the body, providing that the additional sweating can evaporate, according to Smithsonian Magazine
5: Go easy on the Air-Con
It’s really, really tempting to jack your air conditioner temperature down to 16 degrees, but there are two problems with this. Firstly, cost; Setting your temperature to around 26 doesn’t feel hugely different and will cost a lot less to run the unit. Secondly, the closer your inside temperature is to the outside, the sooner you will get anywhere close to acclimatising.
There are a plethora of other things you can do to ease moving to a hot country. Some are more beneficial than others. However, the most significant tool you have in coping with a hot climate is a positive mindset. Accept that the heat is part of life in the region you’ve moved to. Stay out of the sun and do productive things while you do so, like learning the local language.