All posts tagged pollution

No radiation (yet) here in Beijing

By On March 17, 2011 In China, Latest, Personal With 1 Comment Permanent Link to No radiation (yet) here in BeijingPermalink

A few worried folks back home have asked if I’ve been affected at all by the disaster taking place in Japan. Though the two countries are close neighbors, everything here in Beijing has been fine. Some news reports said that tremors from the earthquake were felt here, but I didn’t feel anything.

When comparing Asia and America, I think most people tend to have “immapancy” — what Kai Krause refers to as “insufficient geographical knowledge.” (Check out his map of Africa to see what I mean). So to put it in perspective, I did a quick overlay map to show you just how “close” Beijing was to Friday’s disaster.

The distance between Beijing and Tokyo (1,300+ miles, or a 3 hour 20 minute flight) is slightly more than that between New York City and Minneapolis, Minnesota:

Amateur map by yours truly. Drawn as closely to scale as possible. North and South Korea, which lie between Japan and China, have been taken off to provide perspective.

That being said, I did panic for a moment yesterday upon receiving a mass text from a friend containing the following message:

BBC FLASHNEWS: Japan govt confirms radiation leak at Fukushima nuclear plants. Asian countries should take necessary precautions. If rain comes, remain indoors first 24hrs. Close doors & windows. Swab neck skin with betadine where thyroid area is, radiation hits thyroid first. Take extra precautions. Radiation may hit Phillipine at starting 4pm today. Pls send to your friends.

Turns out it was a hoax.

But my fears of radiation contamination were raised again after seeing Chinese colleagues sending this map (pictured below) to each other via IM services like QQ. It apparently shows where radiation could travel in Asia.

Turns out that too had some misleading information. Instead, it appears radiation winds will be traveling the opposite direction — east.

So everything looks safe, for now. If anything, I’d be more worried about the effect of Beijing’s pollution on my health than anything else. (See this Flickr photo I took of the skyline in November or any of my previous posts about pollution to see what I mean. )

Beijing pollution, as seen from above

By On September 29, 2010 In China, Latest, Personal, Photography, travels With No Comments Permanent Link to Beijing pollution, as seen from abovePermalink
Polluted

Taken on my way to Shanghai, September 4, 2010.

PS: More about the aforementioned trip to Shanghai coming soon!

Singin’ in the (acid) rain

By On June 14, 2010 In China, Latest, Personal With 1 Comment Permanent Link to Singin’ in the (acid) rainPermalink

Here in Beijing, I haven’t yet purchased a dish-drying rack because I keep forgetting to search for them when I go to the supermarket. So, my temporary strategy for cleaning dishes has been to handwash them first, then dry them with a towel and leave them along the wide windowsill in my kitchen.

Here’s why that’s a bad idea:

Guh-ROSS.

Ah, acid rain.

Pollution in China: No, we don’t wear facemasks all the time

By On April 3, 2010 In China, Latest With 4 Comments Permanent Link to Pollution in China: No, we don’t wear facemasks all the timePermalink
Tiananmen

Tiananmen Square on March 20. Photo from Reuters

It’s widely known that China’s air is pretty badly polluted. For the last few weeks in Beijing, a combination of dust from the Gobi desert sandstorms and pollution turned the air brown.

Last week, the sandstorms reached Southern China. In Hong Kong, the pollution index hit 400. (An index 200 is considered “severe”). On Tuesday, I visited Hong Kong to finish some errands. Here’s what I saw:

The Harbour

Pollution along Victoria Harbour. These buildings on the island are not very far from Avenue of Stars, where this photo was taken.

The pollution definitely had a noticeable effect on my health. On Monday, I began to develop a deep cough. I assumed I had just come down with something until I read about the pollution in the news Tuesday. By Wednesday, I lost my voice and the cough became painful. My voice was so gone that I needed a microphone to teach my classes. Luckily, the worst of both my cough and the pollution were gone by the end of the week.

One of the recurring themes of China in the Western media is, of course, the pollution. It’s a classic example of framing. (Sidenote: Communication Studies terms FTW!) While I agree that it’s a problem, I sometimes think it’s overhyped. Yes, some days here in Shenzhen, a city in Southern China, the pollution can be pretty bad. But often, the skies are almost completely clear.

A lot of the news that comes out of China tends to come from Beijing, a city that is far more polluted than the rest of China. But I think it’s unfair to portray China solely from the Beijing perspective. China’s a big country, after all. It’d be like saying all of the US is just like New York City.

I’ve heard some crazy facts and rumors about the pollution: Living in Beijing is like smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, each month spent in Beijing takes a year off your life expectancy, expats who return to their home country tend to bounce back, etc. I can’t prove the validity of these statements, especially since I’ve only visited four cities (Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong) and seen the countryside only once (on my 27-hour train ride from Beijing to Shenzhen). But I can say that every day here ISN’T miserably smoggy, requiring us to wear facemasks all the time. But if your main perceptions of China come from AP photos and CNN, you might think we do.