A heat alert is in effect in northern China Friday as temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius baked the capital.
A day earlier Beijing logged its hottest June day since records began with the mercury edging up to 41.1C, breaking a record set in 1961.
A total 185 red alerts were issued across swathes of northern and eastern China including the capital, the nearby city of Tianjin and the bordering provinces of Hebei and Shandong, where the temperature reached 43C on Thursday.
The red warning is the highest in a four-tier system. It was the first time since 2014 that the red alert was used in Beijing, according to government weather services.
The severe heat is expected to persist in northern and eastern parts for at least eight days, forecasters warned.