Decorative lights are turned off at the Bund in Shanghai on Aug. 22. Shanghai’s iconic skyscrapers dimmed their exteriors Monday as part of a two-day suspension, as the financial hub feels the spillover effects of an acute power shortage wreaking economic havoc thousands of kilometers away. City authorities announced Sunday that in order to manage electricity use, landscape lighting and advertising billboards would be shut down in areas along the Huangpu riverside including The Bund waterfront, as well as central Lujiazui — home to landmarks including the Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower . Pedestrians walk along the Bund past illuminated buildings in Dec. 2021. Sichuan province’s worst drought in more than a half century and a heat wave driving up air-conditioning demand are sapping hydropower generation and drying up reservoirs along the Yangtze River. Shanghai receives some of its power via long-distance transmission lines from several Yangtze dams, […]