• Sandstorm pushes Beijing pollution levels off the charts

    Air quality in Beijing and other areas of northern China is reaching dangerous levels due to smog conditions and sandstorms. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    By Ed Flanagan, Producer, NBC News

    BEIJING — Beijing and other parts of northern China were stung by hazardous air pollution levels Thursday as strong winds blew a sandstorm through the region.

    Air in the capital turned a yellowish hue as sand from China's arid northwest blew in, turning the sky into a noxious soup of smog and dust.

    At 6 a.m. local time, the U.S. Embassy's air quality index showed a reading of 516 for particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. Known as PM2.5, such particles are considered particularly dangerous because they can lodge deeply in the lungs. On the American air pollution index, the air at that time and throughout much of the morning was classified as "beyond index."

     

    Feng Li / Getty Images

    A composite photograph shows Beijing's skyline during Thursday's sandstorm, top, and during good weather on Feb. 19.

    The developers of the U.S Embassy's air monitoring station had planned for an index capped at 500. The World Health Organization suggests that 24-hour exposure to PM2.5 should be limited to levels of 25 on that scale.

    Beijing's municipal government issued a yellow-haze warning late Wednesday while state media urged citizens to stay indoors or to take precautions such as donning face masks before venturing outside.

    Across northern China in provinces including Hebei, Hubei, Jiangsu and Inner Mongolia, air monitoring stations recorded readings over 500, and visibility across the region was severely curtailed. In some places visibility was below 3,200 feet, leading to highway closures, suspension of high-speed train services and the cancellation of flights from Beijing International Airport.

    By mid-afternoon, pollution levels had fallen and strong winds had pushed much of the remaining cloud cover from the capital.

    Geographically close to the Gobi Desert, Beijing and other northern cities are particularly susceptible to sandstorms such as Thursday's. Sandstorms are prevalent in late winter and spring as melting frost frees sand and strong winds kick it up and push it eastward.

    The start of 2013 has brought chronic bad air to much of China. In January, air pollution readings were so bad that they were compared to living in an airport smoking lounge. That comparison was underscored by record high levels of PM2.5 on Jan. 12, when readings topped out at 755 on the air quality index.

    Frustration over China's continued pollution problems popped up across Chinese social media. But irritation over the long-brewing issue was perhaps best summed up by a viral photo originally posted on popular Web portal QQ.com of an unhappy looking Yao Ming, grimacing at the Beijing sky.

    Adrian Bradshaw / EPA

    People in Beijing endure a noxious and potentially dangerous mix of sand and fine particulate pollution on Thursday, after a sandstorm blew in from the Gobi Desert.

    Yao, the former NBA All-Star and current member of a Communist Party advisory board known as the China People's Political Consultative Conference, is currently in Beijing in the lead-up to next month's National People's Congress.

    The congress will mark the final step in China's once-in-a-decade leadership change as party heads Xi Jinping and Le Keqiang formally take over as China's president and prime minister, respectively.

    Since taking over China's ruling Communist Party late last year, the new leaders have spoken repeatedly about improving the mainland's environment.

    Many China watchers believe that China's environmental degradation -- underscored by severe air pollution, contaminated soil and dirty waterways -- will be a focal point during the congress.

    This story was originally published on Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:46 AM EST

  • China's state media finally admits to air pollution crisis

    According 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.

    By Le Li, NBC News

    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

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  • 'Worst' smog ever hitting Beijing, environmentalists say

    In Beijing, the smog is hazardous. ITV's Angus Walker reports.

    By David Stanway, Reuters

    BEIJING — Air quality in Beijing was the "worst on record" on Saturday and Sunday, according to environmentalists, with pollution 30-45 times above the recommended safety levels.

    With a thick smog wrapping the Chinese capital since Friday, the city's pollution monitoring center warned the city's 20 million residents to stay indoors.

    Data posted on Sunday by the monitoring center showed particulate matter measuring less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5) had reached more than 600 micrograms per square metre at some monitoring stations in Beijing, and was as high as 900 on Saturday evening.

    The recommended daily level for PM2.5 is 20, according to the World Health Organisation. Such pollution has been identified as a major cause of asthma and respiratory diseases.

    "This is really the worst on record not only from the official data but also from the monitoring data from the U.S. embassy — some areas in (neighboring) Hebei province are even worst than Beijing," said Zhou Rong, climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace.

    The Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center said heavy pollution had been trapped by an area of low pressure, making it harder to disperse, and the conditions were likely to last another two days.

    Related: Beijing's pollution could cut 5 years off life span

    Pollution has been identified as one of the biggest challenges facing China's leaders, with outgoing president Hu Jintao saying during his address to the Communist Party Congress last November that the country needed to "reverse the trend of ecological deterioration and build a beautiful China."

    China said at the end of last year that it would begin releasing hourly pollution data for its biggest cities.

    Beijing has already committed to a timetable to improve air quality in the city, and has relocated most of its heavy industry, but surrounding regions have not made the same commitments, said Zhou.

    "For Beijing, cleaning up will take a whole generation but other regions don't even have any targets to cut coal burning. I bet the pollution here is mainly from those surrounding regions." 

     

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