Beijing residents have their own ways of escaping the heat.

Department stores with air conditioning and cold drinks are the favorites. The supervisor of the food department at Ito Yokado, a department store on the North Fourth Ring Road, observed a trend in shopping habits during yesterday's fiercely hot weather.

"We open at 9 am and close at 10 pm," said the supervisor, who identified herself as surnamed Geng. "Elderly people tend to come to buy ice lollies and ice cream for their families in the early morning to avoid the heat; housewives come along at noon and young people prefer to buy their stuff in the evening while they hang around in the store." With the air conditioning inside, department stores are a good place for people to cool down.

And in the past two days, they've needed to. Beijing's highest temperature on Tuesday was 41 C, according to the Beijing Meteorological Bureau.

Geng said she was happy to see sales volume at the store double since the temperature began to increase on Monday.

And it wasn't just department store managers who were smiling. Streetsellers were also pleased about the heatwave.

A woman peddling in Huixin Dongjie in Chaoyang District, shifted her emphasis from morning snacks to soft drinks. "Famous brands such as Master Kong green or red tea are selling very well, a 30 percent increase compared with an average day despite a price rise," said the woman, beaming with joy.

Meanwhile construction workers on the No 5 Subway Line project enjoyed chatting and sleeping, as their normal working hours were postponed at noon. The men, formerly farmers from east China's Anhui Province, were happy with the heat as they had green bean soup to drink and more time to relax.

At the site, three workers poured water on construction materials to cool them down.

In spite of the scorching heat, Peking University People's Hospital did not see many people falling ill.

"Heatstroke is rare," said Outpatient Department Director Huang Daikun.

"Five years ago we diagnosed a large number of heatstroke patients in the summer but now we have few cases as air conditioning has become very common in the capital."

(China Daily June 23, 2005)