Summer of sleepless nights could be a portent of what's to come

Summer is hot, winter is cold. Spring and autumn are short but offer the best weather of the year in Beijing, as well as some welcome respite from those seasonal extremes.

Well, that's what people told me to expect when I moved here a couple of years ago as the generally accepted natural order of things here in northern China, weather-wise at least.

But life in the capital has been more taxing than usual this summer, with temperatures regularly hitting 35 C and above.