<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-07-14/Beyond-escaping-the-heat-Why-China-is-drawing-summer-travelers-1OKHY4J2p4A/img/2fb4b8f9a3cd4c16ba9818a545738787/2fb4b8f9a3cd4c16ba9818a545738787.png' alt='Foreign tourists visit the Temple of Heaven Park in Beijing, capital of China, June 9, 2026. /VCG'
As temperatures rise across the Northern Hemisphere, many people in the West are discussing plans to travel to cooler parts of China to escape the summer heat.
Summer hit Europe particularly hard this year, with prolonged heat waves putting pressure on transportation, education and healthcare systems. While many rushed to buy air conditioners – predominantly from China – others started making travel plans. As a result, “traveling to China to escape heat waves” has become a trending topic on overseas social media platforms.
Beyond China’s diverse geography, which offers numerous naturally cooler destinations even during the peak summer months, many netizens have highlighted another factor behind the country’s appeal: its extensive cooling infrastructure.
“I was wondering why there are so many foreigners on X coming to China for tourism? It’s because it’s cool here in China, and plus there are air conditioners everywhere. Escaping the heat by coming to China has become the reason they’re traveling here,” X user Ryo posted earlier this month.
A French user on X, who goes by the name Mime van Osen, shared a similar experience after visiting China.
“Before leaving for China, I’d read in my guidebook that they rarely ate cold food there because they found it ‘sad.’ I wondered how it was possible to eat hotpot in at least 30°C, and I quickly understood: there’s air conditioning everywhere, and it’s effective,” the user wrote.
For many European households, installing an air conditioner is still considered a luxury. In China, however, spending summer indoors with the air conditioning on, enjoying fresh fruit or watching television, has long been a normal part of everyday life.
Supporting this widespread access to cooling is a large-scale and increasingly sophisticated energy system.
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-07-14/Beyond-escaping-the-heat-Why-China-is-drawing-summer-travelers-1OKHY4J2p4A/img/11ee6c4d4cbe4422927cf65831112c11/11ee6c4d4cbe4422927cf65831112c11.jpeg' alt='Wind turbines stood scattered across the peaks of green mountains, Yongzhou City, central China's Hunan Province, July 5, 2026. /VCG'
The energy foundation
China is the world’s largest electricity consumer. In 2025, its total electricity consumption exceeded 10 trillion kilowatt-hours, more than twice that of the United States and higher than the combined annual electricity consumption of the European Union, Russia, India and Japan.
Despite its enormous electricity demand, China has maintained stable grid operations, with large-scale and prolonged power outages remaining rare. Even during extreme weather events, peak consumption periods and natural disasters, the country’s power system has demonstrated strong resilience.
Behind this reliability is one of the world’s largest energy networks.
By the end of 2025, China’s total installed power generation capacity had reached 3.89 billion kilowatts, with renewable energy accounting for around 60% of the total, according to data from the National Energy Administration. This demonstrates that China’s energy advantage is not only rooted in abundant power supply, but also in its rapid transition toward a cleaner energy mix.
However, electricity generation is only the first step. In China, much of the electricity demand is concentrated in eastern and central regions, while many energy resources are located in the west. To address this geographic imbalance, the country has built an extensive ultra-high-voltage transmission network.
By the end of last year, China had completed 42 ultra-high-voltage transmission projects, with transmission lines stretching a combined distance greater than the Earth’s circumference. These networks enable renewable energy generated in western regions to reach cities and industrial centers thousands of kilometers away.
Energy storage capacity is also expanding, with technologies including lithium-ion batteries, compressed air, flow batteries, sodium-ion batteries, gravity storage and liquid air storage. These systems allow electricity generated during periods of low demand to be stored and released during peak consumption periods, improving the flexibility and stability of the power grid.
From ultra-high-voltage transmission networks to diversified energy storage systems, China’s evolving energy infrastructure has created the foundation for reliable electricity supply – and, in turn, the everyday convenience of widespread air conditioning.
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-07-14/Beyond-escaping-the-heat-Why-China-is-drawing-summer-travelers-1OKHY4J2p4A/img/99923343bee146c0af3da6324a501628/99923343bee146c0af3da6324a501628.jpeg' alt='Visitors take photos and admire the scenery at Jiuzhaigou National Park in southwest China's Sichuan Province, a destination known for its cool climate, July 9, 2026. /VCG
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Visa-free policies expand options
Beyond widespread access to cooling, the online buzz around “escaping heat waves in China” has also emerged alongside the country’s expanding visa-free policies and simplified entry procedures, which have made travel to China increasingly convenient for international visitors.
A Facebook post titled “Escape the Heat in the Clouds of Zhangjiajie,” featuring images of mist-covered peaks in Zhangjiajie, received more than 2,700 likes within five days. Another X user, Mait, shared a “day trip to escape the heat wave in Lanzhou,” posting photos of blue skies and green mountains in the capital city of northwest China’s Gansu Province, which is known for its relatively mild summer climate.
Data from Tujia, one of China’s major homestay and vacation rental platforms, shows that foreign visitors are increasingly exploring destinations beyond traditional tourist hubs such as Beijing and Shanghai, including northern and northwestern cities with cooler summer temperatures.
During the summer holiday season, foreign visitors are expected to stay in homestays across 123 Chinese cities. Foreign tourist bookings have more than doubled year on year in destinations including Ili, Altay, Anshun and Yichun, according to Tujia.
The impact of China’s visa-free policies is also becoming increasingly visible. According to travel platform Qunar, after China introduced unilateral visa-free arrangements for a number of European countries, visitor numbers from cities including Milan and Madrid increased significantly in the first half of the year. European tourists also stayed longer on average, with hotel stays exceeding three nights.
As the 2026 summer travel season reaches its peak, inbound tourism continues to recover. Qunar data shows that arrivals from Greece increased 9.5-fold year on year, the largest growth among source markets, while visitors from Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Sweden, Finland and Mexico more than doubled.
Today, more international visitors are exploring China not only through major cities but also through smaller towns and rural areas. For some travelers, escaping the summer heat may be the initial reason to visit China. But longer stays and deeper exploration are allowing them to experience a more diverse and multifaceted country.
