China in July - yay or nay?

[fencer]

Anyone been in the first half of July? Would it be unbearably hot? We're thinking Beijing and Chengdu, possibly Xi'an. Not averse to a bit of heat and sun, but need to have energy for all the sights and walking etc. Any experiences to share?

Tips or suggestions would be appreciated too.

I think we went in early Sep and it was fine.
We loved all three of the places you mentioned. Chengdu chosen to see pandas but has a lovely old town and we had a great (unique) opera experience there. Xian chosen for the terracotta warriors and we really enjoyed cycling on the walls around the city.
Day trip to the great wall from Beijing is highly reccomended.
We travelled by a mixture of overnight trains, bullet trains, boat and one internal flight.

We went to Beijing in July - it was definitely hot but not too hot to cope. There were some spectacular evening storms as well. The air pollution can be pretty trying in Beijing when it gets hot but it was nothing we couldn’t handle.

The Great Wall (at Jinshanling) has no shade. Fairly horrible in July. Would not suit me at all! Spring or Autumn much nicer.

Take a sun parasol and blend in with the locals who all use them. Keeps the heat off your upper body as well as your head.

I went to China in late June / early July and it was hot + humid but not so hot to be unbearable. I went from Beijing to Xian to Shanghai and then Hong Kong, stopping off in some of the rural parts along the way (i went with Intrepid). Doing the Great Wall was the hottest part but we all carried loads of water and wore big hats.

I lived in China for 12 years and in one of the hottest places in the country. July would not be my first choice. I would go in September or October, but avoid Mid Autumn festival and the golden week holiday.

I lived and worked in China and I wouldn't choose to go at that time - I used to generally take a holiday back in the UK in July. I'd say it would come down to luck as to whether it was bearable or not. If you are lucky you get low 30s Celsius and if you are unlucky you get high 30s. Can also get very heavy rainstorms, though they are not frequent. Nowadays there are more shopping centres, subways and museums to duck into, so you can still pass the time, but I wouldn't want to be out in the open for long periods of daytime at that time of year. Evenings are generally tolerable for wandering about.

San da huo lu (three furnaces) is the huge central area between Chongqing,Wuhan and Nanjing which gets above 35c in summer.Best to avoid.The weather patterns in China do not follow annual cycles as easily as Europe and often repeat over longer durations than a year.So not easy to predict.I d say it will defo be very hot in Xi'an but Beijing and Chengdu would be bearable.Often when i lived there,those cities only had short periods of truly hot temperatures.

Humidity is a big issue - not just heat. There are better times to go.