Friends, you are probably wondering why I’ve been off the air for a few weeks. No, it isn’t the lingering effects of quality Ukrainian vodka myself and the others indulged in during my birthday celebration. It is, however, a combination of facts that can arguably coexists only in places such as Beijing, the center of the Middle Kingdom. To wit, for the past few weeks I’ve been battling heat (40 degrees Celcius + humidity), illness (colds, coughing and sneezing), as well as pollution (over 300 API). Since the first two are pretty self-explanatory – we’ve all had colds and the summer is a time for hot weather – let me shine some light on the third factor, air quality, which those of you (lucky enough to be) living outside of highly polluted environments may not know much about.
SNAFU. Pollution in Beijing is about as rare as people, insane-bordering-on-suicidal taxicab drivers, and those friggin’ rickshaws that don’t give us white locals (who do you think I am, a tourist?) any respite from their endless solicitations. We’ve all watched coverage of the 2008 Olympics and heard the commentators lament the despicable air quality conditions our athletes had to contend with – and that’s with all the factories shut off and amount of traffic in the city restricted for a month prior to the event. Factories? That’s right. Drive mere miles from downtown proper and you will find yourself surrounded by factories, plants, workshops, and manufacturing facilities of all kinds. While much of the heavy industry production (such as steel work) has been moved further from the city in time for the Olympics, many of those factories remain. Thus, pollution levels in Beijing fluctuate largely as a function of surrounding factory output levels. Breathing this cocktail of gases, chemicals, cigarette-smoke and god-only-knows-what-else, is great news for your health. As you’ve no-doubt noted, I’m going military-style acronymic on you in this post, so let me rephrase the above paragraph in the manner that a wizened veteran would: Situation Normal, All F*cked Up.
For those of you who may not believe that heavy polluters are right outside of town, these tiny smokestacks can be considered fairly convincing evidence. By the way, this photo is from the supposedly underdeveloped South-West part of Beijing.
TARFU. Now, let’s talk some metrics. Besides the more-or-less qualitative ways to measure pollution (how painful the cough is when you've just walked outside) there are other, more scientific ways for me to tell just how pristine (I wish I could actually use that word when talking Beijing air) the capital’s skies are. The API, or Air Pollution Index, was invented just for this purpose. This measure is used to describe air quality in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Malaysia, taking into account 5 atmospheric pollutants: sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), suspended particulates (PM10), carbon monoxide (CO), and ozone (O3), all measured at monitoring stations throughout the city.
Source: Wikipedia and SEPA (State Environmental Protection Agency – why do they exist, again?)
The above chart tells you what generally happens to a person’s health when a certain pollution level is reached. Lovely. Things Are Really F*cked Up.
FUBAR. Enough back story, Sergiy, you say, give us the numbers, how bad has the air actually been?! Well, let me put it to you this way – the end of last week (especially Friday, July 30th) saw air quality levels that would constitute an all-out public health emergency in the US, complete with guys in biohazard suits and political pundits blaming each other on CNN. Alas, in Beijing, it was business as usual. By the end of the day on Friday, the API topped out at 362 – that’s right, at this point in the charts, I bet even scientists don’t really know what type of damage the exposure is doing to your body – but as you can well imagine, the answer is, nothing great. Brandon put it best “It feels like I’m breathing in bricks.” Yep, given heat, humidity, and those wonderful atmospheric pollutants, that sentiment was definitely shared by many around the city. F*cked Up Beyond All Recognition.
I had the good fortune to contact a cold in the few days before pollution really ramped up, so most of my nights last week were spent hacking up my lungs and attempting to get sleep. Now, if you are really concerned with Sergiy’s respiratory health, you can visit this site (run by US Embassy Beijing, so the data may even be true) for constant updates on pollution levels.
Now, after conjuring up all these dark, apocalypse-like images in your mind, let me shine some (literal!) light to bring back at least some semblance of hope. Given that particularly trying Friday, I couldn’t wait to get out of Beijing, and by 8am the next morning was on a bus heading out of the city and into the mountains (as high as I could). At the end of the day, upon coming back into town and stepping out of my subway station to gaze into the sky, I was awe-struck. Where I would normally be greeted by a dark, universally-grey, impenetrable blanket of gloom, I saw colors. There were shades of whites and blues, as well as rays of the sun! Having run and hiked up and down some steep mountains for the past 8 hours, I wanted nothing more than to come home, take off my sweaty pack, wash the mud off my body and disinfect the tick-bites, but I stood rooted, almost unable to believe the change that had transpired in a short 24 hours. As my eyes walked across the sky, a wind – clean and strong – blew across my face. After what felt like an hour – but had to have been but a brief moment – I willed my legs in the direction of home. I knew that on these clear days – I could count how many of them I had witnessed in Beijing on the fingers of one hand – I could see mountains from a bridge near the station. I was not disappointed. Despite being many kilometers away, their outlines majestically pierced the horizon, defying the pollution man has wrought in order to bring true joy and happiness to those who cherish the gifts given to us by Mother Nature. If there are any things worth fighting for in this world, this one is definitely it.
So next time you step outside, take a healthy swig of that clean air while admiring the blue skies above you (or even stars…God, how I miss the stars!) I want you to hope that you never, ever, have to experience a 362 API day.
The first time I’ve seen a sunset here in Beijing. Myself and Chris, my German roommate, were so amazed that we whipped out our cameras and took pictures for about 5 minutes straight, all while giggling like little children. Yes, actually seeing the sun is a pretty rare event given the smog in this town.
The view from my window - if I turn my head left. Look far into the distance beyond the buildings and to the horizon - these are the mountains I saw from that bridge neat the subway station. They are nowhere near, but on clear days grace the backdrop of this city.
Each new dawn brings about a “SSDD” grunt from me as I smack the cell-phone-turned-traitor-alarm-clock, lament the fact that I am SOL in Beijing, and after contemplating going AWOL from class/work, crawl out of bed and shake myself off. With a hearty “FIDO” I plunge into another day of conquering China. After 14-18 hours of running around like a chicken with its head cut off, knowing full-well that another such day is just around the corner elicits a simple reaction – BOHICA.
…I’ll let you figure out the acronyms yourself.
A sunset in Beijing? WTF???? Gosh...
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