It takes one minute for butter to melt, 10 minutes for eggs to set and 20 minutes for slices of beef to cook, not on a griddle, but on a sun-baked balcony.

A local reporter found this out when he placed the foods on a metal railing and the concrete floor of a fourth-floor balcony in Shanghai.

Since pictures and video of the cooking experiment were uploaded on Tuesday, they have spread like wildfire across the Internet.

Shanghai has experienced the hottest July in 140 years, with 25 days reaching or exceeding 35 degrees Celsius this month, weather records show.

Hoping to find a respite from the sweltering summer, sweaty people are turning to frying foods in the sun, cracking jokes and uploading heat-related photos.

Jeering jokes

On microblogging site Sina Weibo, theater director Wang Chaoge posted an altered image of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece "Mona Lisa" in which her long dark locks are replaced with a pixie cut.

"It's too hot," read the caption to the image uploaded on Tuesday.

More than 40 cities in China have experienced extreme heat, with highs creeping above 40 degrees Celsius as of Tuesday. The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) on Tuesday initiated level-two emergency response to the heat -- the highest such response launched by the country to date -- for nine provinces and municipalities in east and central China.

Over 14 million Sina Weibo posts were related to the summer heat as of Wednesday, and over 100,000 featured jeers and jokes, especially ones of people comparing themselves to grilled meats and fish.

"The only difference between me and grilled meat is some seasoning," one netizen wrote.

"The hospital diagnosed me with third-degree burns after I accidentally fell onto the road today on my way to work," another wrote, mocking an alert about scorching asphalt roads.

Ruth Baru, a media correspondent from Kenya, said the heat in Beijing reminds her of her hometown, Nairobi.

"It's very hot, but I can deal with it," she said, adding that she often works outdoors, so she's fairly used to the heat.

Sunday marked Beijing's hottest day of the year, with the highest temperature recorded at 40.2 degrees Celsius in Shunyi District.

People have tried to chill out with jokes and funny images, but their efforts have done little to really beat the heat.

As of Tuesday, over ten people in Shanghai have died of heatstroke, according to the Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Zhejiang Province, where temperatures have risen over 40 degrees Celsius, cities such as Jinhua and Wenzhou opened air-raid shelters for residents, and people have been swarming into air-conditioned libraries and subway stations to escape the heat.

Economic effects

The heat sweeping most parts of the country isn't just making people sweat -- it's also affecting the economy.

Residents are more likely to buy summer products, such as air conditioners and refrigerators, to replace their current ones, stimulating consumption of electric appliances, said Liao Xinyu, an analyst with UBS Securities.

E-commerce, delivery services and cold chain logistics have also been boosted, though no precise data are available yet, he said.

A Shanghai municipal official surnamed Chen, who is in charge of construction and renovation projects for health and educational facilities, said renovations during the summer vacation have been slowed down to help prevent workers from being affected by sunstroke.

Chen said he expects the regional economy may be affected by the hot weather, considering construction projects on government-led buildings and infrastructure would be reduced this year.

In Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang, the drought and 40-plus degree days have caused Longjing tea trees to wilt in the sun, their dried leaves crumbling. Experts are anticipating a production reduction and price hike on that type of tea next year.

Longjing is a type of green tea, and West Lake Longjing produced near Hangzhou's West Lake is considered the most famous brand.

A tourism report released in June estimated that the extreme heat this year could help develop China's summer resort market.

According to the 2013 Summer Resort Development Report for Chinese Cities, jointly released by the China Tourism Academy and the CMA Public Meteorological Service Center, mountainous and forested areas, most of which are located in the southwest, northwest and northeast parts of the country, could turn into hot summer resort destinations for tourists looking to cool down.