China's Air Pollution

[Thomas Promise]

Serious air pollution plagues most major Chinese cities, where environmental protection has been long sacrificed for the sake of economic development. Coal burning and car emissions are major sources of pollution.

Beijing's skyscrapers receded into a dense gray smog Thursday as the capital saw the season's first wave of extremely dangerous pollution, with the concentration of toxic small particles registering more than two dozen times the level considered safe.

The smog has become so thick in Beijing that the city's natural light-starved masses have begun flocking to huge digital commercial television screens across the city to observe virtual sunrises.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/16/beijing-air-pollution_n_4607200.html?ir=World

Edited January 17, 2014 by Thomas Promise (see edit history)

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

I was going to let this one go as everyone on planet earth knows just how f'd up China's air has become. But, this recent BS out of Beijing is so blatantly insulting to the people of earth that I just had to call attention to it. Take a look at the photo below of the filthy dirty air in Beijing and the brightly lit sign in Tienanmen Square:

 

http://i44.tinypic.com/2z3opzo.jpg

 

The sign reads: "protecting atmospheric environment is everyone's responsibility".

 

What a bunch of horsecrap!

 

The position of the communist government assholes is to blame the people of China for not fixing the problem of deadly filthy air. In fact the Chinese government is showing their unwillingness to take any responsibility whatsoever. They refuse to address the companies that dump thousands of metric tons of poison in the air every day, and instead arrest, detain, and destroy the poor street vendor's barbecue. I am now convinced that China will never be seen as a world leader, unless the people of the world are gullible enough to believe it's the fault of the US.

 

Yes, the article does state:

 

 

 

On Thursday, Beijing mayor, Wang Anshun, announced measures to diminish coal use by 2.6 million tonnes and ban vehicles which pollute heavily. He pledged 15 billion Yuan (about £1.5 billion) to improve air quality and said that the city would research new technology to reduce pollution.

 

Very unlikely to happen as China will NOT bring it's vast power to bear to ensure that the emergency measures needed NOW are enforced. The air is so bad now that it will literally cause you to choke and cough when you breathe.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10579742/Smog-in-China-prompts-authorities-to-display-sun-on-giant-screens.html

Edited January 19, 2014 by GuangDongExpat (see edit history)

[danb]

We were in Beijing a couple of weeks ago. We had a couple of nice days. The weather was fairly nice. We did some sightseeing. During the day I didn't noticed the pollution. Visibility was okay. When we were on the highway Beijing didn't seem to disappear. I thought visibility may have been at least a couple of miles. At night though the air was "cloudy." Not sure if am using the correct term. After dark and with the streetlight on I could see something in the air. It was like the air was very dusty. And the street light were less than 150 feet away. We did experience the alternate drive days restrictions. That day we had to ride the bus instead of getting to ride in the BMW Suv.

After Beijing we went to Xi'an. I felt the the pollution there was much more noticeable. Visibility had to be less than a mile. It is shame. When we left and on the way to the airport the sun struggled to show itself. I think we caught a gleam of a couple sun beams as we past the 6 cooling towers next to the nuke plant. Those towers were I think less than 2-3 mile from the airport..

The past 4-5 days here in Nanning the weather has been very nice. We have been seeing a lot of sunshine. Much better than the rest of the time that I had been in Nanning on this trip. This trip I have really noticed a deterioration of the air visibility in Nanning compared to previous visits. It is sad.

One day China will have to face her pollution problems. Hopefully before it is two late. The US faced some of her pollution problems in the 70's and the 80's. Now it seems like we are pretty heavily regulated in that respect. Danb

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

We were in Beijing a couple of weeks ago. We had a couple of nice days. The weather was fairly nice. We did some sightseeing. During the day I didn't noticed the pollution. Visibility was okay. When we were on the highway Beijing didn't seem to disappear. I thought visibility may have been at least a couple of miles. At night though the air was "cloudy." Not sure if am using the correct term. After dark and with the streetlight on I could see something in the air. It was like the air was very dusty. And the street light were less than 150 feet away. We did experience the alternate drive days restrictions. That day we had to ride the bus instead of getting to ride in the BMW Suv.

After Beijing we went to Xi'an. I felt the the pollution there was much more noticeable. Visibility had to be less than a mile. It is shame. When we left and on the way to the airport the sun struggled to show itself. I think we caught a gleam of a couple sun beams as we past the 6 cooling towers next to the nuke plant. Those towers were I think less than 2-3 mile from the airport..

The past 4-5 days here in Nanning the weather has been very nice. We have been seeing a lot of sunshine. Much better than the rest of the time that I had been in Nanning on this trip. This trip I have really noticed a deterioration of the air visibility in Nanning compared to previous visits. It is sad.

One day China will have to face her pollution problems. Hopefully before it is two late. The US faced some of her pollution problems in the 70's and the 80's. Now it seems like we are pretty heavily regulated in that respect. Danb

 

Yeah, it's a hit or a miss thing in China as to whether you will choke when walking outside, or look to the horizon or down the street and notice that you can see three streetlights ahead instead of only the one you saw yesterday.

 

You are correct in that there are heavy 'particulates' in the air. All that dirty air is not made up of smoke that blows from one place to another, but it has heavy metal and poison particles that go up, and then come down. It settles on everything and will kill it quickly, including metal, pets, plants, roads and people.

 

The US did have problems with air pollution that began to worsen in the fifties. Then, new regulations on power plants and automobiles and companies that dumped shit into the air were regulated and enforced. The problem to get this started is that it's very expensive to retro-fit cars, power-plants, and business polluters. Let's face it, cars, power plants, and business are the primary cause. Businesses will lose revenue if the government suddenly requires them to foot the bill. The US model was for the government to provide assistance for companies that made changes and also had penalties for those that failed to comply.

 

US air became bad in the 50s and 60s, but it cannot be compared to the death clouds now circulating in the major cities of China

Edited January 19, 2014 by GuangDongExpat (see edit history)

[Aussie in love]

Really sad.

 

I've stated in previous posts, I do not believe it is solely China's or US fault. It is the collective fault of "globalization" and greed.

 

The double standards are sickening. The company I work for is perfect example of this.

 

Who can blame a developing country for trying to improve their standard of living?

 

When China no longer are financially acceptable to their profit plans, these clean, green companies will move onto the next wild frontier. This will leave the pollution, concrete, masses, broken agriculture and people. I have been saying this for a few years no, I hope I am wrong.

 

Who has an answer? Really sad.

[danb]

Just came back from the bank. It is located at the end of Xin Hu Lu Street (the computer street). It where the new tunnel that goes under Nanhu Lu Lake starts.. It looked sunny, warm and very nice, until I look over the lake and look at the tall buildings on the other side and, plainly the smog/haze can be seen obscuring the visibility. My wife calls it "wumai." I think that translates to haze. The other day I was talking to someone else about the pollution and they used the same word. What is the happening to My Nanning, the city that is know as the Green City? Sad...Truly sad.

In the future I wonder if China will be left behind for greener less polluted (pastures) countries with lower paid workers. Or will Chinese progress and clean their act up and export their trash and pollution to those yet to be polluted greener pastures and develop their economy to the next level?

 

Danb

[Mick]

My fear is that even if China gets serious about cleaning up the air, it is going to be very difficult. The huge population with more and more cars on the road, coupled with the continued use of coal as the primary fuel for heating, will make clean up efforts very slow and maybe even ineffective. Yet things are rapidly reaching a point where people actually cannot breathe the air. The government will have to become very strict with regulations on industry instead of a few street vendors. And corruption can no longer be tolerated, where a factory chief pays off local inspectors and/or officials and they look the other way. That sort of corruption is so ingrained in the Chinese culture that it is going to be hard to eradicate. I hate to see the air getting this bad over there. I love China, its people, its culture, and its history. Even more personal, Li's family is right in the thick of it in central and western Jiangsu Province - places like Changzhou which recently was graded with the worst air pollution in the country. It is a matter of grave concern and if you are a Candle member, most likely you have extended family over there now. Rarely a day goes by that I don't try to keep a check on this. Li's brother often sends us photos of the situation in Changzhou. Her sister, living in Ma'anshan, a city on the Jiangsu/Anhui border and overlooking the Changjiang River, is also in pretty bad shape. The iron industry is big there and steel smelting doesn't make for nice air.

[tsap seui]

Chinartucky has air?

[Randy W]

Smog a "two sessions" concern for China's provinces

Unlike pollution-dogged Beijing, smog is new to Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which has long boasted a good natural environment. After several bouts of hazy weather gripped the region last year, alarmed locals brought the issue to this year's "two sessions."

 

At the annual session of the region's political consultative conference, which is being held along with the legislative meeting, haze has been a heated topic.

 

"Nanning (capital of Guangxi) used to be famous for its clean air, but after looking at the city's air quality readings last year, it's hard to be optimistic," said Jiang Hongbing, vice head of the provincial supervision department and a political advisor.

 

The region reported 92 days of air pollution last year, and even as Jiang proposed greater government efforts to clean up air on Friday, the city of Nanning was shrouded in dense smog that shot up the pollution level to "serious."

 

. . .

 

In the case of Guangxi, the increased discharge of industrial emissions, dust from construction sites and vehicle exhaust are identified as factors behind the deteriorating air quality, said Yu Zebin, an environmental expert at Guangxi University.

 

"The city of Nanning, for instance, is busy building its subway system and urban facilities, so construction sites are everywhere in the city. Meanwhile, huge and rapidly growing car ownership is also causing more exhaust to be emitted into the air," Yu said.

 

[Randy W]

Beijing law sets stiff targets for PM2.5 levels

The municipal government signed an agreement with the central government in 2013, promising to improve air quality by 2017. The city will dedicate 760 billion yuan ($125.63 billion) to cope with heavy smog, Beijing Mayor Wang Anshun said at a group meeting of Saturday's conference.

"If we can't make the target by that time, top leaders joke that heads will roll," Wang said.

The draft features more punishment clauses, accounting for one-third of the total, which will increase financial penalties for violating the law, so people dare not discharge pollutants, said Liu Jigang, vice-director of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee.

Citizens will also be able to file lawsuits against the polluting company for compensation directly if they are not satisfied with the conciliation of environmental watchdogs.

Authorities will take legal responsibility if they fail to investigate or punish polluters. Violators will receive administrative punishment or even criminal sanctions.

 

. . .

 

Beijing Municipal Environment Protection Bureau (EPB) has said that the fines will be higher than the cost of the cleanup for polluters.

There will be no upper limit for repeat offenders, Liu said, the Beijing News reported.

"Making lowering PM2.5 a legal target is of great significance," said Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE), a Beijing-based NGO.

"The previous regulations and laws usually focus on emission reduction, but this doesn't necessarily mean PM2.5 will be lowered."

 

. . .

 

Also included in the draft are restrictions on open-air barbecues and a requirement that drivers must switch off engines while idling in areas such as parks, hospitals and schools.

 

 

[tsap seui]

Lil' rabbit, Penn, and I flew into America in August of 2011. I had been with them in China for 7 weeks or a little more and the traffic was pretty bad then, and on the various other trips I had made. They went back to the Motherland in May 2013 and when they came back lil' rabbit said I wouldn't believe how crowded the city was, that the cars had more than doubled in almost 2 years and how hard it was to get around now. Heck, I had thought it was bad when I left....now I vision a million black cars sitting in a huge traffic jam, like the DC metro area traffic I left so eagerly, only without different colored cars.

 

I miss our family there and ma and ba are really slowing down and having more health problems so I would like to see them again. It's sad to see they all are living in bad air at a more fragile time of their lives.

 

I've got nothing to say about what China should or shouldn't do. Just glad I got to experience it for almost a year in different trips. It's become clear to me that the "fantasy trip" and subsequent trips to get to know Wenyan were all part of a process, the process of finding and getting to know my girl. I really didn't leave anything over there that I need to go to pick back up. Many good memories of hilarious times in Fushun. Should I go back, I'll be the guy in the Aqualung scuba diving gear, hailing a taxi to cross the street. I've come way too far to die simply trying to cross the street, or taking my last breath tasting mei du dust mixed with the exhaust of a f'ing BWM. I hate BMW's. LOL

 

Thanks for the memories Chinartucky. Good luck to all who live there...and thank you again State Department for giving my woman her freedom so I was not forced to live out my life sucking stale scuba tank air in order to live with my wife. It took you sorry bastards long enough!!! LOL

 

tsap seui

[Thomas Promise]

China's auto-spending spree is expected to slow, as new government vehicle restrictions kick in this year to combat increasing pollution.

 

http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/20/autos/china-autos-pollution/index.html?iid=s_mpm

[Randy W]

Beijing's air would be a step up for these guys

New Delhi in orange, Beijing grey - Jan 1 through 21

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2014/01/25/delhi-pollution-chart/9a4d4edcdadc516512cb594682109bc9e0d4461a/0126-web-INDIA-artboard_1.png

Despite Beijing’s widespread reputation of having some of the most polluted air of any major city in the world, an examination of daily pollution figures collected from both cities suggests that New Delhi’s air is more laden with dangerous small particles of pollution, more often, than Beijing’s. Lately, a very bad air day in Beijing is about an average one in New Delhi.

 

. . .

 

But for the first three weeks of this year, New Delhi’s average daily peak reading of fine particulate matter from Punjabi Bagh, a monitor whose readings are often below those of other city and independent monitors, was 473, more than twice as high as the average of 227 in Beijing. By the time pollution breached 500 in Beijing for the first time on the night of Jan. 15, Delhi had already had eight such days. Indeed, only once in three weeks did New Delhi’s daily peak value of fine particles fall below 300,

 

Edited January 27, 2014 by Randy W (see edit history)

[tsap seui]

Note to self.....remember to pack all the Mike Bridges/Flipper gear when going to visit New Dehli and Beijing.

 

I do remember that first trip to Chinartucky. It was a fine warm day on September 30, 2006. The air was clear in the old town and we had a hotel room I had booked that overlooked the entire Forbidden City and T-men Square. The views were great, even the views outside the window. For a whole 24 hours we could look out the winder and see the old palace with it's beautiful sloped and curved rooflines. The air smelled good and you could see forever. We had 3 days in ol' Beijing and we took a few day trips to see the typical sights before heading up country for a coupla weeks in Fushun.

 

We woke up on the 3rd morning, I passed a series of window rattlin' eruptions of methane on my way to the winder to take in the sights....oh my, I couldn't see a damn thing. I thought, "Horrey Cow, my flatulence has done clouded the dadgum winder". No sir, Now, I've emptied a few rooms in my day, but NEVER have I foged the winders to where you couldn't see through them....ahem...at least not more than 15 minutes. We couldn't see a damn thang outside, even when I tried pulling the "film" off the inside of the winders. No go, Joe.

 

We dressed, had some morning eggs and stepped outside....into a cloud. My God man, I thought we had gone IFR (aviation speak) and I should stop looking outside and get on the instruments like we had flown into a cloud. "What's the elevation of Beijing?", I quickly asked the passer bys.....they just looked at me like I was speaking English and they were all Chinese or something....nobody answered my simple question.

 

Short story, shorter, we never did see anymore of Beijing...and the air had a taste to it now.

 

We stayed another day in "the cloud" and then flew up to Fushun, home of the largest open pit coal mine in the world. A lil' "dusty" up yonder. I came to learn that in the winter time you can actually taste "mei" (coal) in the air. It's not bad actually, a lil' petroleum-ee on the tongue taste buds.

 

We had a great time up north, then we flew back down to Beijing and stayed in the same hotel for another night before my flight back to Uncle Samville. When we flew into Beijing and got into a cab for the ride out to the 4 star No Tell Hotel I had myself quite an experience. I had the distinct feeling that the NASCAR driving taxi man had horribly untuned his car's engine and rigged up his exhaust to empty right by my face. I kid you not....I searched hi and low in the back of that car to find where Dale Zhang, Jr had hidden the end of his exhaust pipe in the cabin???

 

Man, it was like I had a fan blowing gas fumes in my face...choke choke, I could hardly breathe in the oxygen/petroleum by product mixture. I was being given. My lungs kept screaming to my brain's control section engineers...."STOP INHALING STOP INHALING... FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, JOHN, PAUL, GEORGE, and BINGO...STOP THE INHALING FUNCTION!!!!!"

 

As you all know, the inhaling function is on cruise control and a human being can only stop inhaling for a very limited time...either that, or the engineers in my scrambled eggs brain were on stoned from takin' a smoke break of their own.

 

It got worse, as my eyes started burning and they watered up something fierce. I tried to discreetly wipe the flood running down my cheeks and staining my Parks Brother Saville Row Aussie style safari vest with a dark spreading stain on my dapper attire.

 

I never said a word as I am not a complainer, but with Viagra Falls unleashed and flooding the back of the car, lil' rabbit took notice of my cascading tears. She tenderly reached over and touched the back of my hand as it wiped my face like a windshield wiper on high speed....and she softly told me...."It's okay big white boy, I am very sad to see you go too."

 

Now, I am not complaining about the air in China, or pointing my finger at any Chinese problems like so many smug fellars of my ilk is prone to do. It just is what it is. Them Chinese bosses will fix it in their own time. I figger they are pretty well tapped out monetarily from buying up all of our debt, trying desperately to keep us afloat so we can buy more stuff....God Bless their heart rendering and giving souls. Do you think, America would lend all their money to another country and let their people breath bad air as a result of their good will? Me either. A pretty rare gesture in my limited world view estimate.

 

Good luck to the peoples of China. Change comes pretty darn slowly sometimes. I can't spell her name but if China ever has another famine, that one old French queen or whatever she was would just say, "Let them eat air."

 

On a good note, I guess the Chinese boss hogs in control can now rest a little easier and point out to the masses...."Lookey lookey, the air in New Delhi is much worse than here." It's always good to be able to point a finger at someone else when the dodo hits the fan.

 

I am truly saddened that the good folks in China have this problem. It hurts me that all of our Chinese relations, especially our more elderly in-laws are having old age problems, with the very air they breathe giving them respiratory problems as well. I know that it can be addressed and fixed as it wasn't all that long ago that I remember flying into LA, or NYC and from a distance could see the yellowish brown cloud hanging over them like an evil entity.

 

tsap seui

[Randy W]

Is there a pattern here?

 

Let's see - Point out the pollution caused by fireworks. Then, when industry SHUTS DOWN for the holidays, and pollution levels drop, congratulate the people on what a GOOD JOB they did in NOT setting off fireworks.

 

 

Lost in the Haze: Beijing’s Fight Against Fireworks

Pollution levels have definitely dropped for the holidays here in Yulin, although the level of fireworks sure didn't.