Smoke + Fog
by tdaxp ~ May 11th, 2007
Since yesterday, Lady of tdaxp has criticized my exorbitantly priced, wasteful, and just plain un-Chinese $80 tooth filling. So for her work, we left early for Peking University Dental Hospital to go the non-English-speaking-route and get her a better deal. Arriving at 10, we set up an appointment for 4:30. Thus we had a day to kill.
It was another day of firsts, including my first straight caffee mocha, my first sweet bun (or manto, steamed buns), and a visit to the first KFC in China.
It was also a day of true smog, thick fog plus the smoky grayness that had been growing since the last rain. A true rain clears the sky. The moist air we got from last night to this noon just made things miserable.
For instance, in this photo of Tianamen Square taken lengthwise:
Central Beijing, 2007
The far end is almost completely obscured. Compare that to the embarrasingly idyllic shots from last year:
Central Beijing, 2006
The air today was worse than anything I experienced last year, whether in Beijing or Tianjin. I’m exhausted from the lack of oxygen. My boycott of National Review and further photos will have to wait for a bit, I fear.
Pathogenic load reduces...
May 11th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Ever read Natures End (1)? Sometimes I wonder if China, not the US (as we obviously haven’t) might be the country to realize the nightmarish (and vastly alarmist) scenarios entailed in the book.
1 http://www.amazon.com/Natures-End-Consequences-Twentieth-Century/dp/044651344X
Hope you and the lady are enjoying her homeland. Be safe.
May 18th, 2007 at 12:00 am
I haven’t read the book, though I get the point about China. I do not know if the hellish air is that unusual for early industrializing states, though. I think back to what I have heard about the terrible smell of Victorian London and even the 20th century’s killer fogs.
Certainly, southern China seems to offer more hope. Guangdong province [1], which has a longer history with the west, was never in the rust belt, and is a center of light manufacturing is quite clean.
Thanks for the link!
PS: I’m most familiar with Striber from the good words that Art Bell had to say about him. Art is an acquired taste, but I ended up liking him a lot. I would love to hear him do a Mysterious Universe-style [2] podcast.
[1] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2007/05/18/canton-a-tdaxp-travelogue.html
[2] http://www.mysteriousuniverse.org/