“When you express your true thoughts and feelings through it, it would be natural, and evocative. And that is beauty."
Invited by the PKU Nexus: Heritage & Innovation, the renowned paper-cutting artist Guo Meihua, the Representative Inheritor of Shanxi Paper-cutting, joined the program as the inaugural Inheritor-in-Residence.
"Many people would say the Intangible Cultural Heritages are doomed." For that, Guo Meihua shared her own vision: "Starting here at Peking University, I will try to visit more schools, from primary schools to colleges... Letting more young people appreciate it."
The residency is part of Re-encounter with Chinese Glories, an interdisciplinary initiative launched by Peking University that brings together science, art, and traditional Chinese culture to reimagine how heritage can thrive in the modern world.
While Europe is responding to heat waves by buying more air conditioners,
China is deploying infrastructure that cools public space at a fraction of the energy cost.
Rooftops across Shanxi province are fitted with mist nozzles that spray droplets fine enough to evaporate before they hit the ground.
They switch on automatically at 35°C and drop surrounding air temperature by 5 to 8°C within minutes. The same system now runs at bus stops in Chongqing, public squares in Beijing and Wuhan.
The technology is not new. Evaporative cooling is textbook thermodynamics. What is new is that a government decided to fund the rollout at city scale before anyone wrote a policy paper about it.
🇨🇳 China is out here building the future in real-time 🤯
This rooftop misting system in Shanxi creates "artificial rain" that drops outdoor temperatures by 5–8°C in just minutes.
Europeans could sure use this right now.
Writer: Michael
🚨 En China convirtieron la lluvia en aire acondicionado.
Un complejo residencial en Shanxi instaló niebla en los tejados que baja la temperatura hasta 8°C en minutos.
Enfrían un edificio entero con agua pulverizada, sin gastar nada en climatización.
🇨🇳 China is out here building the future in real-time 🤯
This rooftop misting system in Shanxi creates "artificial rain" that drops outdoor temperatures by 5–8°C in just minutes.
Europeans could sure use this right now.
Writer: Michael
In central China’s Shanxi, a residential community has drawn attention for its “rooftop rain” — a mist cooling system that drops surface temperatures by 5–8°C in minutes.