It's summer. There is no point attempting to deceive ourselves any longer. Turn on the office air conditioning and face the facts (and if you don’t have air conditioning, join the club). What exactly does summer mean in a city like ours? Well, short skirts. Also, perverts. The problem is real – as the Chinese police and just about any short-skirt-wearing young lady can tell you. But how to deal with it? Read on for our guide.

China’s micro-blogging platform Weibo is not just about cute pictures, scandals and self-indulgent oversharing. Beijing’s police and fire departments are both spreading valuable – and intriguing – news about the city, from crime to traffic reports.

Beijing Police opened their dog training base to the media for the first time yesterday. The lucky attendees saw feats of strength and derring-do.  One English Springer Spaniel had to find a bloodstained knife in a soccer field – he came good in under three minutes. It wasn't all spectacle, though, as the Beijing cops also provided the press with some facts about their canine department.

If you have looked in the sky this afternoon you can't help but have noticed that there's smoke been filling the air. There was a fire close to Hujialou Middle School (a few hundred meters southeast of Chaoyang Theater), an area around Chaoyang Beilu and the East Third ring road. The fire appears to have started in one small temporary structure - much like those put up to house construction workers when subways are being built -  before spreading to another two similar buildings. Thankfully the fire now appears to be under control. We'll keep you posted with more info as we get it but for the time being you'd be better off keeping away from the area if you can.

Disappointingly CCTV again failed to deliver a spectacle to match the amazing fireball extravaganza of 2009 that saw the station sacrifice their own building in downtown Beijing for the sake of Chinese New Year festivities – but that doesn’t mean this year’s holiday hasn’t seen its fair share of human and architectural casualties.

According to Xinhua, “China's Spring Festival fireworks setting frenzy caused 194 fires in Beijing in the first six days of the week-long holiday, which was 99 more than in the same period last year.” Way to go Beijing! There were also 388 firework-related injuries in the city (including one casualty who apparently “received an eyeball removal surgery”) and at least two fatalities.