Pollution in Beijing

September 15, 2007

One of the first things you notice when you arrive in Beijing is the air. The haze, the smell. It's not a pretty sight. So how bad is it?

To give you some idea, here is a picture of our complex in Beijing on one of the best days this summer. This picture was taken at about 5 p.m. in the afternoon. The Air Pollution Index (API) on this day was about 30 which is very low for Beijing. Usually, Beijing's API hovers around 100 in the summer months.

API statistics for the major cities in China can be found on the Chinese State Environmental Protection Agency's website at http://english.sepa.gov.cn/ or at http://www.zhb.gov.cn/english/air-list.php3?offset=0.

An API of 1-50 is considered "excellent", 51-100 is "good", 101-200 is "slightly or lightly polluted" (rating a warning to reduce activities outdoors for people with cardiac and respiratory problems), 200-300 is "moderately polluted" (rating a warning to same people to stay indoors).


Here is a picture of our complex on one of the worst days this summer. This picture was taken at about 3 p.m. in the afternoon, but notice how much darker it looks than the above picture which was taken later in the day. Keep in mind that this was a "clear" day, or at least there was no threat of rain. The “clouds” you see in the background is actually haze which is produced when particulates in the air get trapped in drops of moisture in the air. Haze thus tends to be worse on more humid days. Whether there were actually any clouds behind that haze is anybody's guess. The API for this day was very close to 200. On an average day, Beijing rarely gets this bad, but the haze is still pretty thick.

The Chinese government is obviously hoping for more of the “blue sky” days pictured above when the Olympics opens next August, but chances are not likely. This summer, Beijing fell below the number of “blue sky” days that the government set as a target. The 100 meter dashers may not feel the effects, but you have to feel a bit sorry for the marathoners.

You might wonder about the health effects of breathing in this air. There is no definitive study about how many years it can take off your life, but one thing we know is this: it's not good for your health, and it certainly aggravates your respiratory system. Sooner or later, everyone develops the "Beijing cough" which usually goes away after your lungs acclimate. My sister, who is a doctor in an American-run hospital here in Beijing, says there's not much you can do about it short of moving out of Beijing. Apparently, exercising in smog is better than not exercising in it. There are also some pretty good masks you can wear if you don't mind standing out in a crowd. Check the masks sold at this website: http://www.respro.com/home.php. For the more academically inclined, there is now a book published by MIT Press titled Clearing the Air: The Health and Economic Damages of Air Pollution in China (2007). You can read sample chapters at http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/search/default.asp?qtype=c&query=clearing+the+air.