Video: The extent of China's extreme heat, drought

Weeks of record heat and drought have shrunk China's largest freshwater lake and left the surrounding rice-producing areas under a serious water supply shortage.

Satellite images released by the Ministry of Natural Resources showed that Poyang Lake had fallen to about 600 square kilometres from nearly 4,000 square kilometres in April.

Jiangxi is one of the 13 major grain-producing provinces in China and the area around Poyang Lake is the main rice-producing area in the province.

The lake's water level continues to drop and the rice yield this year is at stake with the drought occurring during the grain filling and heading period, according to the local authorities.

Local authorities help farmers set up pipelines to channel the water from reservoirs by digging wells to pump up groundwater in order to relieve the drought in paddy fields.

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China has been hit by record-high monthly temperatures in large swathes of the country, along with droughts that have severely reduced hydroelectric production.

Experts say that is part of a trend linked to global warming.

Power rationing that forced factories in the southwest to shut down has been extended due to low water at hydroelectric dams, adding to losses from the hottest, driest summer in decades.