Air quality in Beijing

I’m temporarily far away from Beijing in Kashgar, the westernmost city in China, a Muslim outpost on the Old Silk road. Kashgar has got to be one of the few major Muslim cities in the world where one doesn’t hear a public call to prayers five times a day.

In fact, one doesn’t hear anything from the mosques. Loudspeakers at the mosques are pretty much banned. Anyone who has traveled in the Muslim world knows how unusual that is.

But I digress. Last night, a group of us journalists here in Kashgar to cover a rather horrid mass killing of police officers gathered in front of the Idkah Mosque. It’s a wonderful plaza, and at 10 p.m. it was filled with people. The heat of the desert day had lifted at twilight, which falls at an extraordinarily late hour because China insists that the whole country stay in one time zone. In a corner of the plaza, photographers waited with cameras ready to take pictures of tourists next to a double-humped camel, a goat and some horses, all attached to colorful carts.

Rising above the mosque was a crescent moon -- an almost too perfect image.

The skies were clear. They remain so this morning. I enjoy coming to China’s Xinjiang province partly because there is very little air pollution, unlike Beijing.

Air pollution is on a lot of people’s minds in China this week as the Olympics get started. On McClatchy’s Olympics home page we now have a daily photo taken from the bureau’s balcony, and a link to the Ministry of Environmental Protection’s website to the daily Beijing air pollution index. Right now, that index stands at 88, which is hazy and moderately polluted, at least in my book. It doesn’t yet touch 100, which is when I look out the window and my instinctive reaction to the idea of going to the gym is, “No way!”

Two news stories struck me as I perused the news this morning. First is this New York Times story and accompanying Reuters photo of U.S. Olympic team cyclists arriving in Beijing with custom made black masks over their mouths and noses. An excerpt from the article:

“This is really a surprise because I didn’t think it was going to be such a big deal,” said one of the cyclists, Mike Friedman. “Why we wore the masks is simple: pollution. When you train your whole life for something, dot all your I’s and cross all your T’s, why wouldn’t you be better safe than sorry?

“They have pollution in Los Angeles, and if the Olympics were in Los Angeles, we would probably wear these masks, too.”

Now along comes China Daily, the English-language government newspaper, which this morning has an article with the headline: IOC: Beijing’s air is safe for one and all.

Like many things in China Daily, one can’t distinguish commentary from news. This article seems to be more commentary, and among its memorable passages is the following:

With just three days to go for the Beijing Olympics, a section of the international media has raised the bogey of Beijing's air quality again, saying it fails to meet the (World Health Organization) standards.

But Ljungqvist said the WHO representative in Beijing has expressed "extreme dissatisfaction" with such media for exaggerating the city's pollution problem. Ljungqvist met with the WHO official recently.

"The WHO standards are not intended for temporary visitors," Ljungqvist said. "They are for permanent residents" to guard them against long-term risks.

Oh, get it everyone? During the Olympics, with the dramatic measures China has taken, like shutting down scores of factories, and removing half the cars off the road, the air will not be a risk for those temporarily coming to Beijing. And what happens when all those cars go back on the road? Will the air be “safe for one and all” or will the international press once again be resorting to bogeys? In other words, many Chinese live in Beijing all year around and are not temporary visitors.

If there is one thing you don’t read in the Chinese media, it is clear and concise information about the long-term health effects of living in a polluted environment.

But perhaps that is asking too much.

Comments

[A B]

Isn't it poetic justice that the top civil servants of China are being poisoned by air pollution that they will not allow to be spoken of?

Kind of like SARS in Zhongnanhai.

At least, there is no doubt in Beijing as to the environmental cost of economic growth in its current form.

[Mark]

sigh. nice to see you following the reporter's handbook.

[Stifford Runa]

During the Olympics, with the dramatic measures China has taken, like shutting down scores of factories, and removing half the cars off the road, the air will not be a risk for those temporarily coming to Beijing. Many Chinese live in Beijing all year around and are not temporary visitors.

[Marvin L Foushee]

It is interesting to note that the Crown of England has sent Crown Princess Anne to the Olympic Ceremonies in Beijing. I wonder if she will stay for the Battle Axxe or Javelin throw events. What are the shamans in the Naxi Providence forecasting for the Olympics: a green dragon in a yellow sun or a blue dragon in a yellow sun? Amon help us all if it was a red dragon in a yellow sun. Jesus 333 Rome.

[Stan]

You can talk about London
You can talk about Rome
But the Nut House is Marvin's home

[Micah Sittig]

Doesn't this have a simple answer? One cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs, and a country can't develop as quickly as China without its people making a few sacrifices, eg their health. I'm not condoning that answer, but it's an answer that should be addressed.

[Pffefer]

Tim,

China Daily is not the only one who can't distinguish commentary from news. many of your fellow western media outlets do the same.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j3iBuGW54pqHz1H5_DRUGrGqJaLQ

[MK]

Hey, Tim, this is unrelated, but have you heard this story about a Darfur activist/gold-medalist's visa being revoked shortly before he was to fly to China for the Olympics?

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Chi?urn=oly,98718

[Pffefer]

A clumsy move by the Chinese government. Instead of revoking Cheek's visa, they should have denied him the visa in the first place. What were they thinking? Once again it goes to show how stupid and unsophisticated some of the Chinese officials are.

[Eve]

I think the NYT story underplayed the cyclists concerns (or that of some of them). Saw a good report on PBS of the air pollution situation the other night, they interviewed one of the cyclists on the U.S team, he said the team was training far from Beijing, were only going to go to the city to check out the course,leave, and come back for the race. Many other U.S. teams are also practicing elsewhere due to pollution, places like South Korea, Singapore, and cities in China with less pollution. I think its going to affect the performances and times, and will be a major storyline throughout the games.
And to Pffefer--I agree, very clumsy move about Cheek--this is getting quite a bit of media play here in the States, which probably wouldn't have happened if they'd either just let him go to China, or denied the visa in the first place.

[Jason]

Tim, as an environmental engineer who has been closely monitoring Beijing’s air pollution, I know that the problem is pretty bad in general, needless to say. I also know that your photos mean little about the pollution in scientific terms. Toxic pollutants such as carbon monoxide and most nitrogen oxides are colorless and perfectly transparent. Harmless water vapor (high humidity) can make the air look like a nasty milky soup. So much for the “spectacles”.

[shenqh]

Air quality is typically better in Sept in Beijing. China originally proposed to have the game in Sept. But selfish american insisted that it will conflict with their NBA schedule. Who needs to be blamed?

[Tim J]

The NBA doesn't start its season until October. I don't believe there are any NBA games in September.

[shenqh]

Sorry, it is NFL.