Topic: Beijing smog makes city unliveable, says mayor - page 3. (Read 3081 times)
If not already, in a few years the amount of people with lung diseases is going to be gigantic, everyone is a heavy smoker in there...
Anywhere else they'd be wearing gas masks in that kind of envrionment lets be honest.
Many people do wear "mouth and nose" masks in Beijing (and not just because they are ill).
Anywhere else they'd be wearing gas masks in that kind of environment lets be honest.
I think there's more than enough pictures available to support the mayor's premise:
Google Image Search Beijing Pollution
That stuff looks pretty nasty.
Google Image Search Beijing Pollution
That stuff looks pretty nasty.
I lived in Beijing for seven years (up until the end of 2013) and the main reason that I don't live there now is because of the pollution.
About the only time it was really nice there was during the Olympics month of August and the first two weeks of September 2008 due to the fact that they shut down hundreds (or maybe thousands) of factories (and I guess some coal fired power plants) in the surrounding areas for a few months in order to improve the air quality (they also introduced rules about the last digit of the number plate and which days you can drive within the city in 2008 which are still enforced now I believe).
It isn't just the smog btw - all the construction (less now but was crazy in 2007) in such a dry and often windy place results in more dust than I've ever experienced in my life (you have to clean your floors at least once per week and virtually no-one uses carpet because of the dust). Even without all the construction the desertification of much of north west China and the annual weather patterns means that Beijing is subject to "dust storms" every spring (making it about the least pleasant time of year you'd want to be there).
If you are keen to visit Beijing then I'd recommend mid to late September (you generally get quite a few very nice sunny days then which are also not unbearably hot and humid).
About the only time it was really nice there was during the Olympics month of August and the first two weeks of September 2008 due to the fact that they shut down hundreds (or maybe thousands) of factories (and I guess some coal fired power plants) in the surrounding areas for a few months in order to improve the air quality (they also introduced rules about the last digit of the number plate and which days you can drive within the city in 2008 which are still enforced now I believe).
It isn't just the smog btw - all the construction (less now but was crazy in 2007) in such a dry and often windy place results in more dust than I've ever experienced in my life (you have to clean your floors at least once per week and virtually no-one uses carpet because of the dust). Even without all the construction the desertification of much of north west China and the annual weather patterns means that Beijing is subject to "dust storms" every spring (making it about the least pleasant time of year you'd want to be there).
If you are keen to visit Beijing then I'd recommend mid to late September (you generally get quite a few very nice sunny days then which are also not unbearably hot and humid).
Forget global warming, that alone should be reason enough to get rid of all the fuels that emit those kind of fumes constantly, the last thing you want is to be breathing in smog on a daily basis, there are plenty of reasons to switch to cleaner fuels beyond "What could happen" when we have plenty of evidence on what has already happened to countries that just blatantly ignore everything that is going wrong with them.
I visited Beijing a few years ago and it was indeed kind of bad. My wife is heading there in a couple weeks. I'll ask her what it's like then.
BTW, that picture of a grey sky is "not bad" for an overcast/foggy day, but pretty bad for a sunny day with a "clear sky".
BTW, that picture of a grey sky is "not bad" for an overcast/foggy day, but pretty bad for a sunny day with a "clear sky".
Looks fine to me
Quote
Beijing’s mayor, Wang Anshun, has called the city “unliveable” because of its noxious smog, according to state media.
“To establish a first-tier, international, liveable and harmonious city, it is very important to establish a system of standards, and Beijing is currently doing this,” he said last Friday, according to the China Youth Daily newspaper.
“At the present time, however, Beijing is not a liveable city.”
Anshun’s speech came days before the market research company Euromonitor International announced, in its findings on the global tourism market in 2013, that tourism to Beijing had declined by 10% from the year before due to pollution and a countrywide economic slowdown.
The company’s top 100 city destination rankings, released on Tuesday, ranked Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok in its top three spots, followed by London and Paris. Beijing ranked 34th, in between Johannesburg and Sofia, Bulgaria.
“To establish a first-tier, international, liveable and harmonious city, it is very important to establish a system of standards, and Beijing is currently doing this,” he said last Friday, according to the China Youth Daily newspaper.
“At the present time, however, Beijing is not a liveable city.”
Anshun’s speech came days before the market research company Euromonitor International announced, in its findings on the global tourism market in 2013, that tourism to Beijing had declined by 10% from the year before due to pollution and a countrywide economic slowdown.
The company’s top 100 city destination rankings, released on Tuesday, ranked Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok in its top three spots, followed by London and Paris. Beijing ranked 34th, in between Johannesburg and Sofia, Bulgaria.
More...http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/28/beijing-smog-unliveable-mayor-wang-anshun-china
Any locals have any input on this situation?
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