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China has recorded its hottest ever temperature in the country as the mercury surpassed 52C in Xinjiang.
Temperatures at Sanbao township in the Turpan Depression soared as high as 52.2C on Sunday, state-run Xinjiang Daily reported on Monday, with the record heat expected to persist at least another five days.
It broke a previous record of 50.3C, measured in 2015 near Ayding in the depression, a vast basin of sand dunes and dried-up lakes more than 150 m (492 ft) below sea level.
The record comes just six months after China saw temperatures drop to more than minus 50C.