China is struggling with a severe shortage of electricity which has left millions of homes and businesses hit by power cuts.
Blackouts are not that unusual in the country but this year a number of factors have contributed to a perfect storm for electricity suppliers.
The problem is particularly serious in China's north eastern industrial hubs as winter approaches - and is something that could have implications for the rest of the world.
Why has China been hit by power shortages?
The country has in the past struggled to balance electricity supplies with demand, which has often left many of China's provinces at risk of power outages.
During times of peak power consumption in the summer and winter the problem becomes particularly acute.
But this year a number of factors have come together to make the issue especially serious.
As the world starts to reopen after the pandemic, demand for Chinese goods is surging and the factories making them need a lot more power.
Rules imposed by Beijing as it attempts to make the country carbon neutral by 2060 have seen coal production slow, even as the country still relies on coal for more than half of its power.
And as electricity demand has risen, the price of coal has been pushed up.
But with the government strictly controlling electricity prices, coal-fired power plants are unwilling to operate at a loss, with many drastically reducing their output instead.
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