When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
China

China And Pollution: Officials Won't Dare Air Data On Rising Smog Levels

Analysis: A very public U.S. air pollution monitor has become central in the debate over Beijing's air quality. But China is so far from facing its environmental crisis that it doesn't even use the latest standard means for measuring smo

Pollution over Tiananmen Square in Beijing (mckaysavage)
Pollution over Tiananmen Square in Beijing (mckaysavage)
Yu Huapeng

BEIJING - The Americans are stirring up trouble again. The air quality apparatus they installed at their Embassy before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is showing alarming measurements of Beijing's air quality. And what is worse is that they are publishing the figures every hour on their website.

This past Sunday for example, the Embassy of the United States posted a hazardous high in the PM2.5 index – 522 micrograms of particles per cubic meter.

Perhaps a little explanation will help. PM2.5 refers to the size of the particles - the really tiny ones that are below 2.5 micrometers in diameter. They lodge in your lungs and provoke nasty diseases. Some even get into your bloodstream. The 522 micrograms per cubic meter is, well, a lot: compare it to the European Union's maximum ratio of 50.

All this has stirred up a lot of debate between Beijing's residents and the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau. Since the autumn, there has been frequent smoggy days, not only in the capital, but also in China's central and northern provinces. The visibility in certain areas is less than 500 meters, and people face heavy coughs in spite of wearing masks everywhere they go.

But the Environmental Bureau keeps on insisting that the air is just "slightly polluted". There is no PM2.5 measurement. The smog is caused by "fog," they say, not "haze."

Fog and haze are indeed two different things. Fog is a weather phenomenon, and does not bring pollution itself. Haze is caused by the accumulated pollutant particles in the air, which happily combine with fog to make smog.

Not dust from Mongolia

Our question, then, for the Chinese authorities: we know our air quality is in constant decline because of rapid economic development, so why don't you have the courage to enforce the limitations on PM2.5?

To this day, China is still using the "ambient air quality standards' modified in 1996 as its enforcement tool for air quality. In this regulation, the mandatory monitoring air particles is set for larger particles, PM10.

A typical PM10 pollution is a dust storm gusting in from Mongolia, full of loose dirt and sand. Humans can deal with this stuff fairly well. China's manufacturing boom has drastically changed the nature of the pollutant and shifted the threat from PM10 to PM2.5.

China's PM2.5 pollution mainly comes from coal-fired power generation, the cement industry and automobile exhaust emissions. With the spread of car use in Chinese cities, a sharp increase in electricity consumption, as well as urban expansion across China, the PM2.5 indicator is bound to deteriorate.

China already possesses the automatic monitoring technology to check for PM2.5. But it would be disastrous for the relevant governmental departments to reveal the horrific data and indicators concerning a pollution they cannot control. Ultimately, this is the very reason why China is not using this up-to-date measuring tool.

Meanwhile, what can we citizens do? Wait, just wait. We just have to hope that if we wait long enough, we'll be able to smile under a blue sky. Or we could also convince ourselves that it's just the Americans stirring up trouble again.

Read the original article in Chinese

Photo - mckaysavage

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Society

How I Made Homeschooling Work For My Mexican Family

Educating children at home is rarely accepted in Mexico, but Global Press Journal reporter Aline Suárez del Real's family has committed to daily experiential learning.

How I Made Homeschooling Work For My Mexican Family

Cosme Damián Peña Suárez del Real and his grandmother, Beatriz Islas, make necklaces and bracelets at their home in Tecámac, Mexico.

ALINE SUÁREZ DEL REAL/GPJ MEXICO
Aline Suárez del Real

TECÁMAC, MEXICO — Fifteen years ago, before I became a mother, I first heard about someone who did not send her child to school and instead educated him herself at home. It seemed extreme. How could anyone deny their child the development that school provides and the companionship of other students? I wrote it off as absurd and thought nothing more of it.

Today, my 7-year-old son does not attend school. Since August of last year, he has received his education at home, a practice known as home-schooling.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest