Foreign tourists visit Beijing's Shichahai lake on July 4. Photo: VCG

As extreme heatwaves continue to scorch parts of the world, posing challenges to daily life and public health, many foreigners, after rushing to buy Chinese air conditioners, have also admired China's widespread ACs and cooling infrastructure, discussing ways to "escape the heat in China" and bringing cool-weather destinations to attention.   

Europe is reeling from its worst heatwave on record, and as it braces for the next bout of scorching weather, people rush for air conditioning. For example in France, hundreds of people were besieging Lidl supermarkets in and around Paris, with scuffles and shouting matches breaking out as residents scrambled to get their hands on bargain air-cooling units, per media reports. 

In addition to panic purchases, discussions about China's widespread use of cooling facilities have gained traction.

"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. 

"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," wrote a French X user under the name of Mime van Osen.

X user Mario Nawfal shared a video of China's mist cooling system, writing: "China has an ingenious way of keeping the temperature down. Outdoor evaporative mist cooling systems spray ultra-fine water droplets into the air, where they quickly evaporate and absorb heat, lowering the surrounding temperature."

Meanwhile, China's cool-weather destinations have been brought under spotlight.

A Facebook post titled "Escape the Heat in the Clouds of Zhangjiajie," featuring photos of Zhangjiajie's distinctive cloud-shrouded peaks, has garnered more than 2,700 likes in just five days. In the comments, many Indian netizens praised the area's natural beauty and asked where it is located.

Another X user, under the name Mait, posted on July 4, "Saturday's day trip to escape the heatwave in Lanzhou," along with photos of blue skies and lush green mountains. Lanzhou is the capital of Northwest China's Gansu Province that boasts relatively cool temperatures in summer. 

According to data provided to the Global Times by travel platform Qunar, this summer foreign tourist arrivals by air have surged not only to traditional destinations such as Beijing and Shanghai, but also to a number of emerging cities, including northern cities with cool weathers. 

Arrivals to Yining in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Nyingchi in Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region have increased 6.3-fold year on year. The number of foreign visitors flying to Datong, Yiwu, Jiamusi, Nanchang, Guilin, Dali and Dunhuang have also more than doubled compared with the same period in 2025.