Weekend Long Read: Why Adapting to Climate Change Has Become a Necessity

Jiang Zhaoli, an official spearheading China’s response at the environmental ministry, tells Caixin that adaptation is growing more urgent as extreme weather becomes the ‘new normal’

Jiang Zhaoli serves as the deputy director-general of the Department of Climate Change at the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. Photo: Zheng Xinqia/Caixin

From July 29 to Aug. 1, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region suffered historically heavy rains. According to the National Climate Center, it rained in Beijing for 83 straight hours, with precipitation exceeding 70 centimeters (27.5 inches) in some places. In Hebei’s Xingtai Lincheng county, precipitation reached an astonishing 100.3 centimeters — the same as the area typically receives over a two-year span.

More than 5 million people were affected in both Beijing and neighboring Hebei province, leaving 62 people dead and 34 missing. The downpour damaged transportation, electricity, communications and water infrastructure in the affected areas. In Hebei, crops over an area of 319,700 hectares (1,234 square miles) suffered damage, with 131,500 hectares considered a complete loss, leading to direct economic losses that approached 100 billion yuan ($13.8 billion).

Residents from Beijing’s Mentougou district examine damaged houses on Aug. 1 after floodwater brought by heavy rain trashed the area. Photo: Zheng Xinqia/Caixin　

Just before the rain started, Beijing had suffered nearly 30 days of high temperatures, setting a record for the highest number of hot days in a year since the establishment of the Nanjiao Meteorological Observatory. Simultaneously, parts of China like Gansu province and the Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous regions also suffered extreme heat. On July 16, the temperature hit 52.2 Celsius in Xinjiang at the Sanbao township station in the city of Turpan’s High Chang district, a record high.