Beijing News: Hot Summer Temps & Share Bike Pricing Changes

Beijing's mild summer has come to an end as the city has entered the San Fu Tian (三伏天 sān fú tiān) period of the Chinese calendar, a summer period of around 30-40 days stretching from July to August, that essentially corresponds to the "dog days of summer," or the hottest days of the year.

As their name suggests, the San Fu Tian period is organized into three smaller groups of days: the Initial (Head) Fu, the Middle Fu and the Last Fu.

This year's San Fu Tian occurs from Jul 15 to Aug 23, a period of 40 days that brings with it high heat and elevated humidity.

Beijing San Fu Tian 2026

• Initial Fu (Jul 15–Jul 24): 10 days

• Middle Fu (Jul 25–Aug 13): 20 days, the hottest period of the year

• Last Fu (Aug 14–Aug 23): 10 days

Aug 24 will mark the official end of the San Fu Tian.

The San Fu Tian have already made their impact felt, with one location in the city near the Bird's Nest registering an astounding high temperature of 41.3 °C on Jul 15.

While upcoming temperatures may initially retreat a bit from the recent highs and there are expected thunderstorms on the horizon, the public is still reminded to take precautions against the sun and heat, and especially to take care to avoid heat stroke and heat exhaustion.

Recently, Meituan, Didi Qingju and Hellobike have adjusted the starting rate for their share bikes in several cities from RMB 1.5/30 minutes to RMB 1.88-1.99/60 minutes.

Specific pricing, however, depends on things like the location and day of your ride. For Meituan, the starting price has been adjusted to RMB 1.88/60 minutes on weekdays and weekends in the six main districts of the city, however other districts will keep the previous RMB 1.5/30 minutes rate on weekdays and weekends.

For holidays, all districts in the city will have a rate of RMB 1.88/60 minutes, which is decreased from the previous RMB 2.5/60 minutes holiday rate.

For Didi Qingju, the starting rate has been adjusted to RMB 1.99/60 minutes on weekdays and weekends. For Hellobike, the starting rate has been adjusted to RMB 1.99/60 minutes on weekdays.

These changes don't necessarily work out to price increases across the board for any given ride. Previously, a 45-minute ride, being longer than the base 30-minute ride period, might have cost RMB 3. However, under the new rates, the same 45-minute ride, being shorter than the new base 60-minute ride period, would cost only RMB 1.88-1.99, an increase of RMB 0.38-0.49, but overall a decrease of RMB 1.01-1.12 for the ride of the same duration. The new share bike rates, then, seem positioned to benefit customers engaging in longer rides and customers riding on holidays.