国内英语新闻:Bomb shelter, library, and cool offices - local Chinese discover new shelters from summer hea

BEIJING, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) - Temperatures as high as 41 degrees Celsius continued to grill south China this week, but local Chinese are popping up with cool ways to cope with the heat.

Every morning this summer, thousands of residents in the eastern Chinese city of Hanzhou rush to air-raid shelters, not to escape air attacks, but summer heat.

In the capital of Zhejiang Province, many city dwellers have found their summer resorts in the city' s nine bomb shelters, which were dug beneath hummocks in the 1960s to defend against "American imperialist invaders" .

In one shelter in southern Hanzhou, elders are watching swordsman TV opera or playing mahjong, while children play hide-and-seek in the labyrinth-like place.

Temperatures inside the shelter were 22 degrees Celsius, compared to 38 degrees Celsius outdoors, according to a LED screen above one entrance.

"We old folks don' t like to be cooped up in air-conditioned rooms," said Ye Chulin, a local retiree. "Here the air is fresher and we can associate with many friends."

The shelters, with benches, LCD TVs, and other newly installed comforts, were opened to the public free of charge and have apparently seen more visitors than back in the Cold War years.

In fact, more than 3,000 residents frequent the shelters to find relief from the summer heat every day, said Cheng Zhiguo, an official with the municipal civil air defense administration.

A resident surnamed Xu told Xinhua that spending his leisure time in the shelter could save him ten yuan (1.5 U.S. dollars) in air-conditioning costs per day.

"And this is not just about saving money, but it is also more environmentally friendly," added Xu.

In the neighboring province of Jiangxi, residents are swarming into free, air-conditioned libraries to stay cool, and to learn!

In the Jiangxi Provincial Library, chairs in all reading rooms are fully occupied. Latecomers have to read sitting on the floor or leaning against the wall.