One day does not a trend make. ;) Summer is the worst air time in Beijing, so enjoy that rare blue sky day. (using Western definition of "blue sky")

How about 2? Seriously, while the inversions have been particularly nasty this summer, the overall trend is still positive. Furthermore, I like Beijing during the summer (mostly, for reasons unrelated to weather). April, on the other hand, is my nemesis.

Is pollution in Beijing pretty bad now?
Just read about this:

BEIJING (AFP) - Air pollution in Beijing reached 'hazardous' levels on Monday, the US embassy said, as thick smog blanketed the city for the third day running, forcing the closure of highways and cancellation of flights.

The Chinese capital is one of the most polluted cities in the world, mainly due to its growing energy consumption - much of which is still fuelled by coal-fired power stations - and the high number of cars on the road.

A 'hazardous' rating by the US embassy, whose evaluation of the city's air quality often differs markedly from the official Chinese rating, is the worst on a six-point scale and indicates the whole population is likely to be affected.

The embassy has rated Beijing's air quality as hazardous on several occasions this month. On Oct 9, the reading was listed as 'beyond index', meaning it went above measurable levels.

I was trying to convince myself that the stuff outside is fog, but yeah it's pretty dense to the extent that noon was reminiscent of dusk today.

It is nasty. I stayed in all of Sunday because the air (if you can still call it air) looked gross and as I am still recovering from a cough didn't want it to get worse. I thought it looked worse yesterday compared to today, but then my office is on a much higher floor with unobstructed view so I think it only appears better since I think I can see 'further'.

Yesterday definitely seemed worse than today -- we had to go to east BJ and I kept thinking: yep, we're all smoking a full pack of cigs sitting in this cab!

It's going to rain later this week which should clear things up. However, our road is currently being dug up and is a massive dust heap -- so not looking forward to the quagmire.

tb

Sounds like the same air quality I experienced during my 4 days in Beijing, Oct. 8-12, while visiting. By the end of the day my eyes were stinging. It led to a cold/allergy that I had for the next week. I spent most of the vacation on drugs-pseudoephedrine and sinus meds. Once we left Beijing the air quality in the other cities was fine.

It's worse, believe it or not. At least it was still a normal grey smog - I recall a trip to Beijing about 7-8yrs ago where the colour of the smog looked a sickly dull yellow. Yuck.

short BBC vid
 

Here is a link to a short BBC video on the recent pollution/smog. Yep, it was pretty bad!

tb

link

There was an article in the WSJ yesterday talking about wealthy Chinese wanting to emigrate out of China. One of the top 3 reasons cited was the level of pollution in China.

"Many Chinese who have profited most from the country's growth also express increasing concerns in private about social issues such as China's one-child policy, food safety, pollution, corruption, poor schooling, and a weak legal system."

Here's the link to the entire article. I don't know if you can access without being a subscriber:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...Tabs%3Darticle

An unstated, but obvious, reason is that much of that was not properly taxed.... or, worse yet, simply stolen (in one way or another).

But, whatever the source, a cottage industry has developed during the course of the past several years... help them get long term visas (which convert into green cards), and make it easier for their kids to attend Harvard --> nice value proposition for, otherwise boring, investment products.

By in large, the bulk of them spend most of their time in China (where they can continue to amass wealth), but they "live" in Palo Alto.

The Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau was interviewed by the Chinese press, and claimed the difference between its "light pollution" vs U.S embassy's "hazardous" rating is because the local rating does not measure particles less than 2.5 mm, which is the more harmful than the larger particles that they do measure. Regarding particles less than 2.5mm, they said they have the ability to measure it, and have the data, but they cannot make them public. (probably will come to the same result as U.S embassy's)

Down south here, same thing, location depends on wealth

lots of money: Bel Air, Holmby Hills, Beverly Hills
lot of money: San Marino
money: Arcadia, Bradbury, Diamond Bar, Walnut


The San Gabriel Valley has the largest concentration of Chinese American communities in the United States. Eight of the ten cities in the United States with the largest proportion of Chinese Americans are located in the San Gabriel Valley. Communities with a high percentage of Asian Americans include Alhambra, Arcadia, Diamond Bar, Hacienda Heights, Monterey Park, Rosemead, Rowland Heights, San Gabriel, San Marino, Temple City and Walnut. According to a 2004 report by the Asian-Pacific American Legal Center, the cities of Walnut, San Gabriel, San Marino, Rosemead and Monterey Park contain an Asian American majority.

Govt finally admits Beijing is heavily polluted
 

Exposure to smog is severe hazard

In Beijing, the lung cancer rate has increased by 60 percent during the past decade, even though the smoking rate during the period has not seen an apparent increase, said Mao Yu, deputy director of the Beijing Health Bureau

Zhong Nanshan, a respiratory expert and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering said that without intervention, PM2.5, a major cause of choking smog, would replace smoking tobacco as the top risk factor for lung cancer.

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2...t_14216543.htm

True, but only about 2-3000 individuals out of the hundreds of thousands of millionares in China went down this path. Even if you say they chose other western countries you maybe have 1-5% of the wealthy doing this. Hardly a majority.
And the US has one of the lowest thresholds for investment to get this investment visa - 500K and 10 jobs. Buying a McDonald's franchise would easilly cover that. So the actual % is probably around 1%.


I think this has more to do with the kids education, and having an easy out in case they ever decide things really do get bad enough. Polution is just an easy excuse since as others have pointed out, most still continue to reside in China since that's where their gunxi gives them business.