China Endures Worst Heat Wave in a Century

It's been so hot in China that folks are grilling shrimp on manhole covers. The heat wave—the worst in at least 140 years in some parts—has left dozens of people dead and pushed thermometers above 104 degrees in at least 40 cities and counties, mostly in the south and east. Authorities for the first time have declared the heat a "level 2" weather emergency, a label normally invoked for typhoons and flooding.

Extreme heat began hitting Shanghai and several eastern and southern provinces in early July and is expected to grip much of China through mid-August. Shanghai has set its record high temperature of 105, and at least 10 people have died of heat stroke in the city over the past month. In one photo displayed prominently in the China Daily newspaper, a boy tended to shrimps and an egg in a pan over a manhole cover in eastern city of Jinan. (More China stories.)