Amid heatwave, elderly people in China ‘chill out’ at air-conditioned supermarket

The staff persuaded them to leave but had even fallen asleep by then.

2 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Aug 26, 2022 09:13 AM IST

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Amid the racks in the store, they were seen sitting idle on chairs.

Amid sweltering heat, people in China have been looking for a respite. Meanwhile, a video showing elderly people “chilling out” at an air-conditioned supermarket in Hubei has gone viral on social media.

The video shared by South China Morning Post shows elderly people seated in the air-conditioned supermarket in large numbers. Amid the racks in the store, they were seen sitting idle on chairs.

ALSO READ | Viral video: Bridge cracks open as China reels under heatwave

According to the text inserted in the video, they have been doing this for an entire month to beat the heat. “They hung out around different aisles of the shop while sitting on chairs they had brought from home. They have been visiting after 7 pm for a month already,” the store owner was quoted as saying in the video. Even though the staff persuaded them to leave, it was in vain and some of them had even laid down falling asleep.

Watch the video here:

These elderly people are chilling…. literally ☃️ pic.twitter.com/QAmG5m8Rc9

— South China Morning Post (@SCMPNews) August 24, 2022

Before this, a video showing a bridge cracking open reportedly due to the heatwave had gone viral on social media. The 20-year-old bridge in Quanzhou was seen buckling under intense heat.

Notably, China for the last two months has been reeling under the worst heatwave in over 60 years. A red alert heat warning was issued for at least 165 cities and counties by the government on Tuesday, Associated Press reported.

Millions across the country have been suffering from the adverse impact of record-breaking temperatures and severe drought. The country’s first national drought alert was issued last week after areas like Shanghai, the Yangtze Delta region and Sichuan province in southwest China reported weeks of severe heat, AP reported.