When there is a really bad air day in Beijing or other cities, do Chinese people wear a hospital face mask to keep some of the particulate out of their lungs?
Would I look dorky if I did this?

Don't think they would give it a second thought, might think you have a cold
and just don't want to spread it.

I've used masks plenty of times outdoors, both with hospital mask and with N95 molded mask. Often use it when riding my bike. I don't care about what the Chinese think about me wearing one. Since 2003 SARS, at least in Beijing there is a decent enough contingent that wears hospital-type masks when they have colds, so as not to spread. But not to the extent you see this in Japan. Hospital masks are a bit of a psychological item and don't really protect you from much (definitely don't help for pollution), but they can help keep whatever illness you have from passing to others.

Sanya air pollution isnt bad at all.
It's right next to the ocean and so ocean breezes and the monsoon season often clears up whatever pollution there is.
Definitely better than Beijing and HK.

For me, I find that pollution in London is far worse than in Shanghai.
Shanghai's air quality is ok.
By the end of a day walking around in London, my sinuses and throat would really act up...plus all that soot from blowing the nose... :(
In comparison, nothing of that sort happened when in Shanghai or Sanya.

Beijing air quality can be very bad during the spring sandstorms.
The entire city can be covered in yellow dust several days a year.

To be honest, there aren't a lot of Chinese that wear masks anymore. You'll see most of the folks wearing them either on the subway or on a bike/motor scooter.

If you're that concerned about health, then don't worry about looks. If you're worried about looks, unless you look Chinese you're going to get them anyway so might as well do what's good for your health.

Is this a joke? Your personal allergies has nothing to do with air quality. At least what ever is irritating you can grow in London.

I was in Shanghai about two weeks ago and the air there was every bit as toxic as Beijing on a bad day. However, I must admit that Beijing was really bad last week during the 3 days that I was showing my guests around (things improved dramatically almost the minute their plane departed). Today's air is "nice".

In general, I think Shanghai is better air than Beijing, but yes Shanghai does have it's days.

But by today it's really bad. Can hardly see the building on the opposite side of the road from my office.

Shanghai seems to have many more "fog" days than Beijing. Jan-March are a constant "foggy" haze. Beijing at least gets those brilliantly crisp, clear and windy days in the fall and winter.

Not sure I'd 100% agree, but I will say the worst days in Shanghai I can see 100 feet. Beijing, not so.

Yesterday in BJ was really bad. My friend mentioned "400". While I have no idea what that means, I'm guessing "not very good".

A friend of mine recently told me that the intern at the US Embassy who is in charge of reporting this stuff recently reported "crazy bad" (because the numbers were off the scale), but was censured soon thereafter.

i agree..im in tianjin - apparently all the pollution here is blown from bj - and yesterday was gross. it reminded me of my trips to changsha

There is a large industrial belt south of Tianjin full of belching factories. When the wind is from the south/southwest (as is often the case in the summer), that's your most likely culprit.

IMO, June-August is the worst time of year for pollution in this part of China including Beijing. The lack of big wind, heat and temperature inversions keeps the pollution trapped and intensifies it. Glad I'm not around right now.

Today's weather is great... blue skies abound!