Beijing smog makes city unliveable, says mayor

[Chef Ramsay]

Looks fine to me

Beijing’s mayor, Wang Anshun, has called the city “unliveable” because of its noxious smog, according to state media.

“To establish a first-tier, international, liveable and harmonious city, it is very important to establish a system of standards, and Beijing is currently doing this,” he said last Friday, according to the China Youth Daily newspaper.

“At the present time, however, Beijing is not a liveable city.”

Anshun’s speech came days before the market research company Euromonitor International announced, in its findings on the global tourism market in 2013, that tourism to Beijing had declined by 10% from the year before due to pollution and a countrywide economic slowdown.

The company’s top 100 city destination rankings, released on Tuesday, ranked Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok in its top three spots, followed by London and Paris. Beijing ranked 34th, in between Johannesburg and Sofia, Bulgaria.

More...http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/28/beijing-smog-unliveable-mayor-wang-anshun-china


Any locals have any input on this situation?

[(oYo)]

I visited Beijing a few years ago and it was indeed kind of bad. My wife is heading there in a couple weeks. I'll ask her what it's like then.

BTW, that picture of a grey sky is "not bad" for an overcast/foggy day, but pretty bad for a sunny day with a "clear sky".

[Lethn]

Forget global warming, that alone should be reason enough to get rid of all the fuels that emit those kind of fumes constantly, the last thing you want is to be breathing in smog on a daily basis, there are plenty of reasons to switch to cleaner fuels beyond "What could happen" when we have plenty of evidence on what has already happened to countries that just blatantly ignore everything that is going wrong with them.

[CIYAM]

I lived in Beijing for seven years (up until the end of 2013) and the main reason that I don't live there now is because of the pollution.

About the only time it was really nice there was during the Olympics month of August and the first two weeks of September 2008 due to the fact that they shut down hundreds (or maybe thousands) of factories (and I guess some coal fired power plants) in the surrounding areas for a few months in order to improve the air quality (they also introduced rules about the last digit of the number plate and which days you can drive within the city in 2008 which are still enforced now I believe).

It isn't just the smog btw - all the construction (less now but was crazy in 2007) in such a dry and often windy place results in more dust than I've ever experienced in my life (you have to clean your floors at least once per week and virtually no-one uses carpet because of the dust). Even without all the construction the desertification of much of north west China and the annual weather patterns means that Beijing is subject to "dust storms" every spring (making it about the least pleasant time of year you'd want to be there).

If you are keen to visit Beijing then I'd recommend mid to late September (you generally get quite a few very nice sunny days then which are also not unbearably hot and humid).

[jaysabi]

I think there's more than enough pictures available to support the mayor's premise:

Google Image Search Beijing Pollution

That stuff looks pretty nasty.

[Lethn]

Anywhere else they'd be wearing gas masks in that kind of environment lets be honest.

[CIYAM]

Anywhere else they'd be wearing gas masks in that kind of envrionment lets be honest.

Many people do wear "mouth and nose" masks in Beijing (and not just because they are ill).

[pedrog]

If not already, in a few years the amount of people with lung diseases is going to be gigantic, everyone is a heavy smoker in there...

[pattu1]

They actually have marathons in that smog! 

[TheButterZone]

Float/tether some blimps with carbon recyclers and hoses down to the ground.

[thompete]

Looks fine to me

Any locals have any input on this situation?

I think its not visible, but the constituents in the air, that probably make it bad for health. I am sure this will pose a problem in the near future.

[Candystripes]

At least masks there are cheap as dirt to make

Edit: 2K post

[riptide]

China make a lot of pollution yes, but the climate there makes it much worse!

[GotCoin]

Beijing not most polluted city

Ahvaz, Iran:

http://spotonlists.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Ahwaz-Iran.jpg

[Troonetpt]

With that being said now comes the aftermath, ether the residence of cities like Beijing evacuate and relocate and change there business model, or they can stick around to slowly suffocate.

[sgk]

That's why you can sell millions of fresh air cans.

YES. BOTTLED AIR!  AND PEOPLE ARE PAYING FOR IT!!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2271690/Bottled-AIR-Chinese-multimillionaire-sells-EIGHT-MILLION-cans-fresh-air-TEN-DAYS-pollution-levels-climb-record-high.html

[innocent93]

This is the costs of economy growth, don't forget the London Smog?

But I would like to say this situation(smog) didn't happen every day, you could come across a sunny & clean weather in Beijing.

[bryant.coleman]

This is what happens when the government doesn't care about people's health and want to save as much money as possible. Decades ago, there were proposals to replace gasoline-run vehicles in Beijing and Shanghai with those run with CNG. No one seriously considered it. Also, China is the no.1 consumer of coal, a highly polluting fuel.

[Agestorzrxx]

This is a strategy of China, you all never understand
Let me show you why,
We have polluted air, toxic food and contaminated water.
After all of this things, our body been tempered, we have a strong heart.
If the world war 3 happen, the nuclear way will be inevitable.
The air,water and food on earth will be polluted.
Do your know who will be survived?
The answer will be Chinese people

PS: Of course this is a joke.

[sgk]

This is a strategy of China, you all never understand
Let me show you why,
We have polluted air, toxic food and contaminated water.
After all of this things, our body been tempered, we have a strong heart.
If the world war 3 happen, the nuclear way will be inevitable.
The air,water and food on earth will be polluted.
Do your know who will be survived?
The answer will be Chinese people

PS: Of course this is a joke.

And don't forget the ARK they built to survive apocalypse in 2012 movie