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:
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.
Bridget O'Donnell, 24, is a designer for the