Beijing Pollution

[gato]

Wow, Beijing's pollution index was at 182 yesterday, the highest among 84 Chinese cities. Shanghai's was 42, for comparison. No wonder I couldn't breathe. Cough. Cough. I'm going to buy a gas mask.

http://www.zhb.gov.cn/english/air-list.php3?offset=0

Air Quality Daily Report for 84 Major Cities In China

Date: 2005-09-11

City Name Date Pollution Index Prominent Pollutant Grade

Beijing 2005-09-11 182 PM10 3B

Tianjin 2005-09-11 98 PM10 2

Shijiazhuang 2005-09-11 113 PM10 3A

Qinhuangdao 2005-09-11 72 PM10 2

Taiyuan 2005-09-11 104 PM10 3A

Datong 2005-09-11 114 PM10 3A

Yangquan 2005-09-11 112 SO2 3A

Changzhi 2005-09-11 57 PM10 2

Hohhot 2005-09-11 64 PM10 2

Chifeng 2005-09-11 89 PM10 2

Shenyang 2005-09-11 100 PM10 2

Dalian 2005-09-11 32 -- 1

Anshan 2005-09-11 99 PM10 2

Fushun 2005-09-11 114 PM10 3A

Changchun 2005-09-11 88 PM10 2

Harbin 2005-09-11 69 PM10 2

Qiqiha'er 2005-09-11 68 PM10 2

Mudanjiang 2005-09-11 83 PM10 2

Shanghai 2005-09-11 43 -- 1

Nanjing 2005-09-11 98 PM10 2

Suzhou 2005-09-11 63 PM10 2

Nantong 2005-09-11 62 PM10 2

Lianyun'gang 2005-09-11 60 PM10 2

Yangzhou 2005-09-11 73 PM10 2

[roddy]

Scary thing is that I was outside yesterday and thought it was a relatively nice day. Guess that's what a few years in Beijing does to you

Roddy

[gougou]

Anybody into chemistry here? I sure would like to know about this PM10 that seems to be all over China, never heard of that before.

For the good news, I saw that the scale used goes up to over 300, only then a city counts as heavily polluted. Beijing at 180 (and as such far ahead of the next city) is only lightly polluted. Phew!

[Outofin]

No wonder I couldn't breathe. Cough. Cough. I'm going to buy a gas mask.

Buy one for me as well. I don't want to waste the first week of my vacation in sickness.

Scary thing is that I was outside yesterday and thought it was a relatively nice day. Guess that's what a few years in Beijing does to you.

When you return home, you'll be with a stronger immune system and tougher stomach.

[phbriggs]

PM10 is the less than 10 micron sized particulate fraction. It is the fraction which it is believed can get deep into the lungs and be trapped. It is also known to trigger some respiratory diseases/ailments such asthma and emphysema.

The atmosphere has natural levels of PM10s (from wind blown dust, vegetation, volcanoes, sea spray, forest fires etc) but there are many man made sources which if exposed to high levels may cause problems over time. Man made sources include coal burning (power or heat) vehicle emission (particularly diesels), land disturbance (soil and rock dust) and manufacturing processes (particularly those with abrasive processes).

[gato]

I actually just bought one of air purifers for my room. It runs on only 40W and is fairly quiet, at least compared to the air conditioner.

PM stands for "Particulate Matter," I believe.

[wushijiao]

How do you say air purifier in Chinese? Where did you buy it? I'd like to get one as well.

[gougou]

What exactly does an air purifier do? Is it just filtering?

[wix]

Although there is theoretically no safe level of pm10s, a count of anything over 50 is generally considered undesirable.

[gato]

I bought an 亚都 (Ya Du) brand air purifier (空气净化器), model KJ130-TGS, at the electronics chain 国美 ("Gome" is their pseudo-European name, I believe). It costs about 800 rmb and is rated for a room of about 30 sq meters, although my own room is less than 10 sq meters. According to the clerk, it can filter a room's air 8 times within an hour.

Here's a listing: http://www.ijiajia.com/productinfo/577.html

It works essentially like a water filter, except it's for air. There are a few layers of thick fabric filtering material wrapped inside. The machine sucks in the room's air, filters it, and spits it back out nice and clean. In the store, they had a demo with a purifier enclosed in a glass case with an electronic cigararette lighter plugged in at one end. In the demo, the clerk would flip the switch, pump in the cigarette smoke, and show you how quickly the machine could remove both the cigarette smoke and smell from the air. Within the small glass case, it's effective almost within seconds. You could see the smoke disappearing right in front of you.

My aunt was trying to get me to buy a rice cooker, but I thought the air purifier was of a higher priority. I don't know how important it really is, maybe just as a way to recuperate from the assault from the particles while you're inside.

[Outofin]

Came across some comments on China's pullotion on web.

The growing desert is a serious issue, but it only contributes to the specific environmental issues in Beijing for about half the year. The spring and early summer are usually periods of huge dust storms that cover everything.

The other primary cause of pollution in Beijing is a more mundane one: industrial production. Beijing's borders (as well as every other major Chinese city) has expanded rapidly in the past 10 years. Just throwing a number out there, I wouldn't be surprised to find that Beijing has tripled in geographic size (diameter?) in the past two decades years.

There wasn't a lot of thought placed into industrial zoning in the first place, but this growth has just exacerbated the problem. Factories in "industrial zones" on the edge of the city have all of a sudden found themselves essentially in the middle of urban development. There's a major effort to relocate many of these factories outside of Beijing.

Atmospheric pollution is an issue anywhere you go in China, these days. I remember my earlier trips to Shenzhen about 4-5 years ago, as well as 4-5 yearas before that. The sky was blue, the ocean was sparkling. Today? More often than not, a dirty haze that covers everything.

No solution to the problem except growth. It'll get worse before it gets better.

From his conclusion, you should have known that he comes from a developing country. (Me too.) This is the same sentiment that we saw in the thread of automobile. "We have every right to make all mistakes you made!"

Another related news is Capital Steel Groups's relocation to Hebei province. That's a big corporation, but we can't be too optimistic when talking about pollution on the scale of the whole city.

[gato]

Autumn is a good time to visit Beijing, Outofin. I see some blue sky out already today.

Along the line of your post, I wonder if Beijing is some ways like Mexico City, that its geography and shape are such that it is not able to dissipate as much pollution as some coastal cities like Shanghai or Shenzhen. If so, it would be an argument for Beijing to be developed in a more environmentally smart way, or else it would be doomed to suffer through ever increasing level of pollution for the foreseeable future.

[bhchao]

Yep, both Beijing and Mexico City are located near natural ecological phenomena, the latter being near two volcanoes.

A good question is how would you promote urban development in Beijing given the Gobi's expansion towards Beijing?

[gato]

Beijing, like much of northern China, also gets very little rain Sept to May, which limits its natural ability to clean itself of the air pollution. LA is similar in that regard.

See this rainfall chart for various Chinese cities: http://www.travel.com.hk/weather/china.htm

[Outofin]

I'm Beijing now. The situation is much much worse than I expected. The city is constantly covered by the haze. I can't even see buildings 1 km away. It rained some days ago. I thought it would be better the next day. No, it didn't help a bit. And, the most outrageous thing is that, they call it "light polluted day". It's not light polluted. It's not inhabitable. When I see the plants in the middle of the roads, I alway wonder why they don't just die. If I stand there, I would die in one day.

[gougou]

I alway wonder why they don't just die

In fact, they might be dead already. When the Olympic Committee came to Beijing, the government had the grass at the sides of the road be painted green...

[bhchao]

sorry for being blunt, but I think Beijing is in deep s--- environmentally.

[gato]

Don't tell us, Bhchao. (sh) It's a pretty nice day today, but it was indeed pretty shitty on National Day.

I say things won't improve until the world runs out of oil in anther 50 years.

[ala]

Shanghai has steady wind currents (stand by Huangpu River near the Bund, and you'll know what I mean) that blow most of the pollution away. Also Shanghai rains more, so the streets are a lot cleaner in general than Beijing. But on a hot and stale day, the pollution in Shanghai gets pretty noticeable too (white sky, can't see the sun nor clouds syndrome). There are definitely also more trees and rivers in Shanghai, especially in the older city proper; less the feeling of concrete.

Beijing has too much concrete and not enough rain. Beijing's like a dust bin.

[Outofin]

It was very nice yesterday. It brought me many lovely memories. Today it's good too. Out of my window it's blue sky and a clear morning. Maybe I overreacted. (Maybe not! I'll keep observing and do some calculation when I leave.) Beijing expanded too much. It has reached the Summer Palace (颐和园) and take it inside the city.

So many new and strange experiences. Some are no good but some are even better than developed countries. I should write something after my vacation.