The temperature in Beijing reached a record 37.2 degrees celsius in Beijing on Saturday, the highest temperature ever recorded on that date since 1951.

A foreign teacher talks in the hot sun with a pupil during the ongoing Foreign Language Week for Beijing Citizens in Chaoyang Park on Saturday, May 26, 2007. [Xinhua]

High temperature, in excess of 35 degrees, has hit the city two weeks earlier than usual.

Beijing Morning Post reported road surface temperatures on Beijing's Badaling Highway were up to 39 degrees celsius around at 2 p.m.

The China Meteorological Administration raised the heatstroke index to level two on Saturday, for the first time this year.