Beijing air quality and children

One recurring subject among Westerners living in Beijing, at least in my circle of friends, is whether we’re harming our kids by choosing to live in a polluted environment.

Beijing is severely polluted. Call me ethnocentric but my experience is that most Chinese have no idea how severe the pollution is. They’ve rarely or never been outside of China, and they’ve grown accustomed to the haze and smog. We Westerners are not. Yet we choose to live here, often for very good job reasons, even enjoying ourselves greatly. And our kids’ health may suffer in the process. It’s not something most parents want to dwell on.

I spent the morning with Kenneth A. Rahn, an atmospheric chemist retired from the University of Rhode Island. He’s working with Tsinghua University in Beijing, China’s top university in the sciences, to study air pollution.

We discussed the dry air, wind movements in Central Asia, tiny suspended particulate matter, and other factors aggravating the pollution. Then I found myself blurting out the question: How bad is it for my family to live here?

He began by describing the general conditions of air pollution in northern China, saying the blanket of aerosol pollutants stretches not just over urban areas but vast regions stretching hundreds of miles away.

“When you fly out of Beijing, all you see is brown everywhere,” Rahn said. “The levels of most things – ozone, particulates and gases – are six to seven times higher than what we are used to in the West.”

Arriving, many foreigners are surprised at the number of smokers in Beijing. One wag even suggests that smoking through a filtered cigarette is better than breathing the air. News reports sometimes say that living in Beijing is like smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, but Rahn said he couldn’t make such a comparison.

“It’s not going to help your health to live in Beijing. That’s for sure,” he said, discussing the lethargy many foreigners feel when arriving for the first time. “People talk about ‘Beijing crud.’ After a week, your joie de vivre is completely blow. You don’t feel enthusiastic about stuff. … You don’t sleep so well.”

I went to see Rahn partly because of a posting on a blog that suggested environmental protection officials might be fudging numbers so that Beijing can achieve its vaunted target of 245 “blue sky” days this year.

Rahn said he didn’t think officials had had “fun” with the numbers but he scoffed at the concept of  “blue sky” days.

“They take what is really a bad condition and give it a good name,” he said. “The concept is crazy. ... ‘Blue sky’ days in Beijing are not really blue. They are various shades of gray.”

He also dismissed the test in mid-August when Beijing officials forced some one million cars off the road for three days. “The scientists who have looked at the data all agree that there were no detectable changes from the auto experiment,” he said.

Much bigger factors are at play on the air pollution than the cars on the road, he said, and when it comes down to the Olympic Games next summer, there is little authorities can do except hope that a northern wind comes along and blows the smog away.

“What are you going to do? You’re going to pray to the Mongolian weather Gods and hope for Mongolian air,” he said.

Comments

[Larry]

Air quality in Beijing is of no consequence to Chinese children. First of all, the number of Chinese in Beijing is declining fast. The number of children at risk is therefore declining quickly, and can certainly compensate for the minor adjustment in the air quality.

Furthermore, China is still the only place on earth that is safe to smoke, most Chinese smokes. The minor change in air quality is no comparison to the effect of smoking for the rest of their lives. And that is a long, long time for children. Therefore the impact of air quality to their health all by itself is insignificant compare with other value added factors Chinese children are facing. And since a lot less of them is at risk, I would say the number of children significantly harmed by air quality in China is declining.

[nanheyangrouchuan]

Larry, you are in over your head.
******

From East Asia Intel:

An official of the Chinese government last week confirmed that Beijing is supporting U.S. enemies around the world.

Yuan Peng, director of the Institute of American Studies, part of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that "in the world, almost all enemies of the United States are China's friends."

The rare admission confirms the view of some critics who say China's arms sales to rogue states like Iran, Syria and North Korea are based on a deliberate strategy of indirectly confronting the United States.

Peng's institute, the CICIR, is an entity of the Ministry of State Security, China's main intelligence service. His remarks were included in a state-run media report.

Peng said long-term strategic stability between the U.S. and China "still remain[s] doubtful."

[nanheyangrouchuan]

Blocked warships had paid first visit to Vietnam since ties with U.S. restored
in 1995

East-Asia-Intel.com, December 5, 2007

Lt. Col. Steve DeMoss, left, commanding officer of the U.S. Navy
ship USS Guardian, and Lt. Col. Thomas Shultz, commanding officer of the
U.S.Navy ship USS Patriot, walk in Haiphong, on Nov. 14. Reuters/Kham

Two U.S. Navy warships at the center of a U.S.-China dispute over port
visits to Hong Kong had been in Vietnam days before Beijing turned them away.
The minesweepers, USS Guardian and USS Patriot, made a port call in Hai
Phong City on Nov. 14 and stayed four days.

The visit was covered by local communist-run media. It was the first time
U.S. Navy ships traveled to northern Vietnam since normalization of relations
in 1995.

Officials speculate that China's denial of a request for safe harbor in
Hong Kong was turned down as a way of showing displeasure at Vietnam for
allowing the ships to visit.

Vietnam and China traded diplomatic protests over Chinese naval exercises
at the Paracels Islands, which is claimed by both Vietnam and China.

GertzFile.com GeoStrategy-Direct.com WorldTribune.Com
Copyright © 2007 East West Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

[Pffefer]

Larry, what do you mean by number of Chinese in Beijing is decreasing?

Tim, the question is, are more Chinese kids in Beijing getting sick because of pollution? It would be interesting to find data on that. If not, who is to say your kids will get sick?

nah, what the hell? So what "almost all enemies of the United States are China's friends.", one can argue the reverse is also true. Look at it this way, who is actively containing who now? Is China trying to contain the US or is the US trying to containing China?

Is that from Bell Gertz by the way? Wouldn't be suprised if it is.

[nanheyangrouchuan]

If China is not contained, it will expand. Just as India, Bhutan, Nepal, Russia, North and South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia and Kazakstan.

Bad, expansionist China.

[Kate]

Tim,
Read your entry on pollution in China & Kids. Did Mr. Rahn have anything to say on Beijing vs. Shanghai. I'm always having the same discussion with friends re: are there adverse affects on our kids' health b/c of the pollution here.

Re: a few posts about Chinese kids and pollution. They must be affected same as kids of other nationalities (duh?). But unfortunately may have the added trauma of their dads and granddads constantly blowing cig. smoke in their faces.....