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Subscribe to RSSAccording to the newspaper China Daily, pollution levels have gotten so bad they're creating respiratory problems, prompting residents to seek air purifiers and face masks. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
BEIJING -- If you have been following China’s state-controlled news media you could be forgiven for thinking that clear blue skies -- not oppressive and choking smog -- have been the rule this winter.
But, finally, they seem to have noticed there is a problem.
Days after huge smog clouds settled on some of China’s most important cities, The People's Daily ran two articles on the pollution crisis Monday.
And while one headline declared that “Beautiful China begins to breathe healthily,” the article itself detailed the extent of the problems.
Experts and environmentalists describe the impact that air pollution has in China, which burns half of the world's coal.
China Central Television News Channel also covered the issue extensively over the weekend.
Visibly high levels of air pollution were probably behind the admissions that the smog -- dubbed “fog” by many -- had reached dangerous levels.
On Monday, air pollution reached "critical levels" in 67 of China's cities, CCTV reported.
State-run media has even begun citing statistics from international environmental group Greenpeace that indicate that more than 2,500 people probably died prematurely in Beijing in 2012 because of air pollution.
Thousands of deaths estimated
Greenpeace estimated that in 2012, more than 8,000 people suffered premature death in four major cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xian.
Wang Zhao/AFP-Getty Images
Two people wearing face masks make their way along a street in Beijing Tuesday.
Patients in Beijing hospital’s respiratory and pediatric departments increased significantly recently, The Beijing Evening News reported.
About 30 percent of the more than 9,000 patients treated every day at Beijing Children’s Hospital in the week that ended Sunday were suffering from respiratory problems, the newspaper added. The hospital declined NBC’s interview request.
Despite the bad news, some environmentalists were celebrating over the weekend.
“I’m kind of telling myself it’s great that the air pollution reached this level so that the people and the government can finally pay attention,” Li Bo, a board member of non-profit group Friends of Nature, said.
Beijing's bureau of environmental protection held a rare press conference Monday to explain the severity of the pollution problem, and outline an emergency plan to reduce the levels of harmful air particles.
The government’s recent attention to the issue comes after decades of prioritizing economic development over environmental conservation, critics say.
'How come we survive?'
On the streets, many seemed unconcerned.
Ma Xin, a 22-year-old street vendor who sells leather coats, said he did not believe Beijing’s air was all that harmful.
“If Beijing’s air is as bad as you say, how come we survive?” he said, dismissing data about air quality.
And Gong Jingyan, who has a masters degree from a top-tier Chinese university and works at one of most prestigious banks in China, said while she realized the “air is harmful,” she did not like wearing a mask because “they look ugly.”
Gong takes a different approach in an attempt to combat air pollution. “I drink water boiled with pear to help my lungs stay clean,” she said.
Huang Xue, a manager at a public relations firm, also expressed concern, but said there was little that could be done.
“We never had this concept of protecting ourselves from air,” she said. “The only thing I could think of doing was to stay indoors.”
“I am not convinced a mask can do a lot,” she added. “Besides, my 18-month-old son will never keep a mask on.”
However, there is at least one way to cope: Leave town.
As soon as Beijing resident Gao Lin, a part-time lawyer and a mother of two, saw Saturday’s record-breaking pollution levels, she bought tickets to Sanya, a resort island in the South China Sea.
“We are leaving tomorrow,” Gao said. “The only way you can escape from bad air is to leave Beijing.”
NBC News’ Yanzhou Liu contributed to this report
Related stories:
Beijing's pollution could cut 5 years off life span
Video: Is this the worst pollution in the world?
Chinese pollution protesters clash with police
Leave a Comment:
If I wanted to gas every single person in Beijing?
just saying...
You could not find a more lucrative system to pay off in bribes then my good friends in the Chinese Communist Party.
You got to love the 18th Party Congress.
They're the best business partner one could ever have.
Everyone can be paid off in China and I mean everyone.
They're all doing it.
Some of us just have goals.
It does look like the smog of 1952 London.
I can remember when it looked like China in the USA. Several cities I frequented had air pollution so bad that your eyes would burn the smell was so bad it made people sick.
Thank God we move all of the jobs to China so we could destroy their health.
If the EPA is dismantled or further cuts to pollution standards are implemented business will bring the jobs back so we can enjoy this kind of pollution again.
Growing up in Southern California, I remember in 82-83 the orange/brown cloud that hovered over San Bernardino. All the pollution that had floated up out of the LA basin. Eyes would burn. When it would rain, everything would be coated with a white powder from the acid rain. People who grew up here should be thankful we have an EPA with enforcement powers.
I remember that too.. and not being able to see the LA skyline from a few hundred feet away. And to think that some Republicans, including Romney, wanted to get rid of the EPA. Their model for America is China.
Well, better late than never...
Wow. I'm glad they are admitting that there is a problem. I like to look at what China has done to its environment. It's a great big warning sign to the whole of the world. I believe that humanity will eventually wise up and learn to use its power responsibly. I can only pray that it happens sooner rather than later.
"China's state media finally admits to air pollution crisis"
-- WEll, duh....what's he going to do, deny it? Over 3000 people A DAY being treated for respiratory problems!! jesus! Do these people need a house to drop on their head before they get it?
You know it has to be really bad when they actually admit there's a problem
This is what happens when you are driven strictly by profit. There is no EPA in China.
There are also no capitalists in the Western sense. China has a socialist market economy. You would be better off blaming the government
Just another reason not to buy their crappy products.
denver,
Irrelevant. There are plenty of capitalists in China including our own corporations, but the statement that this is what occurs when you are driven strictly by profit is correct. What is to blame is a lack of environmental regulation. What is on display is that individuals and corporations generally do not protect the environment on their own without being forced to. This was the rule for most of the era preceding the creation of the EPA in our country.
I do appreciate the improvements to air quality since. At least you can play outside without being covered in soot and only 30 or so days are we advised to stay inside due to smog in my city. I wish we could tack that down to zero, but alas, there is a corporate lobby in the US against electric cars and renewable energy. Our health versus their monopolistic lobbying efforts, campaign contributions, and subsidies. No matter that there is just as much money to be made either way and the cost is about the same. The coal companies will fight for their survival against the future. The consumer loses the fight.
I agree with you that this is what occurs when profit is the sole motive. I disagree that my comment was irrelevant. The Chinese economic system is a socialist market economy. That means that capitalism, when it is allowed, is for the good of the state (i.e. the government).
Agreed, but see above. When the economy exists "for the good of the state", the people who should regulate it are one and the same with the people who profit from it. There is not much incentive.
denver,
It is hard to distinguish now. Are you talking about the anti-environmentalist forces in the US government claiming economic growth is paramount and climate change legislation will hurt corporate profits? I can't exactly distinguish here between a communist state and a bought-out member of our own right-leaning politics.
It seems like you are blaming communistic government control for lack of environmental regulation... but this is an issue that knows no discrimination. The only force that has produced clean environment is a responsible elected or responsive government and a populace more concerned with the common good than personal expedience. Without both, you get uncontrollably high pollution.
What is interesting is that the people are experiencing CO2 concentrations well beyond what the US EPA has declared as immediately lethal. Put simple, Obama's EPA says that everyone in China should be dead.
I think you mean CO. CO2 is what you exhale.
because friend it's not measured in CO2. It's measured in airbourne particulates. whom ever told you that was uneducated and or a simpleton
Never mind. You are probably talking about heightened CO2 concentrations which are bad too.
Don't burst the ignorance halo around "rober34's" head. Even though our government has been around for over 200 years and we have had Environmental Protection Laws for quite some time of course it would naturally follow that Obama came up with the EPA's methodology. Obama sure is a busy guy according to the ill informed and narrow minded! And, what is your point rober34? China should ignore the issue or maybe we should relax our standards over here to be more like China? What is your point?
robber,
I congratulate you for producing a statement that contains only falsehoods. Even the conjugates are false. Amazing.
China has particulate smog, carbon dioxide is a gas. The WHO has evaluated that the particulate levels are 40X the safe levels. The EPA says that carbon dioxide contributes to the heat trap effect, raising surface temperatures on an average basis. No one has declared anything about anything being immediately lethal.
But wait, there is more. Only 67 cities in china have a smog issue, not the entire country. CO2 levels aren't even being reported and measured in this case so it is impossible to even compare them to anyone's standards.
Bravo! Only a scientist could have produced such a deliberate avoidance of facts. Was this a test? Have I only scratched the surface with two paragraphs, the falsehoods contained in two sentences? Where did you study?
This is what the USA will be like again if the republicans succeed in getting rid of the EPA.
But I thought humans don't effect the environment.
The smog in this picture is obviously photoshopped by the Obama Liberal media cronies.
Ignorance is bliss.
Wow, Li and NBC, do you people even fact check anymore? Simple Baidu news search with keyphrases "北京 空气 污染" (Beijing Air Pollution) shows reports on the subject started a year ago when City of Beijing started publishing air pollution stats on 1/12/2012.
(ref: People's Daily: 北京12日起将发布空气质量单站浓度实时数据)
Simple searches like this shows your claim to be inaccurate.
Bobby,
The initial stats were in contradiction to the stats released by the US embassy and used to misinform about the scope of the issue as is evidenced by the resulting ignorance during the street interviews. The new stats are now in line with the stats conducted by western scientists.
@Dante, why don't you do the search and see the critical reporting a year, or two years ago in Chinese media?
China has paid a terrible price for being the world's factory,producing almost everything conusmers in the west need at bargain prices. Pollution from manufacturing and the generation of energy required as well as increased car exhaustion all attribute to the pollution problem.
By outsoucing the manufacturing, the west has conveniently dumped the pollution problem to China and yet pointing finger at China.
You are giving industry way too much credit, to think they will think that far ahead!
Actually I think they would. Didn't Union Carbide build factories right across the Rio Grande to escape any EPA violations? I'm sure the calculators were hot from use. Fines and change......or some morter and bricks and cheap local labor.
This is like the US in the fifties. Test an atom bomb, no problem. Cigarettes...they're good for you. This government can do no wrong and seatbelts mess up your clothes. Something will break the camels(pun)back.
China will Export all the Smog to the US.
warren,
They would if they could, I'm so glad that they can't.
I was in China two years ago in the early Fall. From my hotel room in Xian I could not see more than a block on a sunny morning. There is a huge, coal fired power plant almost in town that belched an enormous cloud of black smoke. Yet, given the urban population of China, those who expire of lung desease due to polution represent a minimiscule percentage of China's population. If polution shortens the average life span by five years that ironically is a plus for China which has a rapidly aging population it must support.
With about 25% of all Chinese being smokers its smoke not smog.
I'm so glad they have no EPA in China, we sell them coal!...lol...Our corporate contolled government may have went communist but I don't mind watching a commy choke to death! ...sorry, just it was driven into us for years that communist were bad, so all of a sudden we got to give them all our living wage jobs! I just wish we could outsource our politicians to Communist China...
Critical times hard to deal with, will be here.
A large, ( and, heavy part ) arrived for my tractor, ( American made, by the way ). When it was finally up on the bench and unpacked, I was disappointed! There, on the casting, in raised large crude letters was, "MADE IN CHINA". Only one company in North America, or Europe could find one for sale. So I quickly agreed to buy it. As I stood looking at it, I thought, how could somebody get a reasonable profit making this, and shipping it so cheaply? All I could come up with was,...Easily replaceable slave labor.
Our wealthy will have eased their family's, off shore, by the time China shows up,...Wanting what our Corporate leaders owe them. By that time, we will wish that we hadn't given our guns, and high capacity magazines to the National Guard.
Gong takes a different approach in an attempt to combat air pollution. “I drink water boiled with pear to help my lungs stay clean,” she said.
Just like the rhino horn will help you in the bedroom
Well,.....We know she's a BANKER, and may be a nymphomaniac too. That explains a lot!
Welcome to Texas, 2020.
Welcome to Texas, 2020.
Well duh! When the pollution is heavy enough to be seen from space, there is little the Communist Party can say to refute the evidence.
If you've ver been to china, particularly in the larger metro areas you would realize you cannot even compar the worst in the US to china. A normal day in china, the sky looks sort of a tan color, rain burns your eyes and you can often see haze between you and the building across the street. It is quite extreme.
Not today's America, thanks to the EPA, but many of us Californians remember what it was like here as late as the early 80s... when the LA skyline was invisible behind a suffocating cake of brown gas from only 800 feet away.
Pollution is everywhere here, the major cities have the additional problem of too many cars, trucks and buses.
Its in the air, water and land caused by Chinese power plants and chemical industries, factories and agriculture.
The constant use of fireworks for any reason adds to the thick choking effect of gunpowder.
Better here than in the USA.
These people are lying freaks. Nothing more, and nothing (unfortunately) less. They lie to the world and think the world is so ignorant and stupid as to believe their lies. My opinion only, death to all lawmakers in this land of death and despair. I would love the opportunity to spit on their remains. Remember, spitting is dirty and nasty, but so are these guys. You earn it, you deserve it. Only fair, after all.
Big, BIG, grin on this one.