Beijing air pollution off the charts

A woman wearing a mask crosses a road during severe pollution in Beijing on January 12, 2013. Air quality data released via the U.S. Embassy Twitter feed recorded air quality index levels so hazardous that they were classed as "Beyond Index." / Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images

BEIJING People refused to venture outdoors and buildings disappeared into Beijing's murky skyline on Sunday as the air quality in China's notoriously polluted capital went off the index.

The Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center said on its website that the density of PM2.5 particulates had surpassed 700 micrograms per cubic meter in many parts of the city. The World Health Organization considers a safe daily level to be 25 micrograms per cubic meter.

PM2.5 are tiny particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in size, or about 1/30th the average width of a human hair. They can penetrate deep into the lungs, so measuring them is considered a more accurate reflection of air quality than other methods.

The Beijing center recommended that children and the elderly stay indoors, and that others avoid outdoor activities.

The U.S. Embassy also publishes data for PM2.5 on Twitter, and interprets the data according to more stringent standards.

A child on a bicycle is pushed by a woman on a stone arch bridge in heavy smog in Beijing, China, January 13, 2013.

/ Chen Yujie/AP Photo

In the 24-hour period up to 10 a.m. Sunday, it said 18 of the hourly readings were "beyond index." The highest number was 755, which corresponded to a PM2.5 density of 886 micrograms per cubic meter. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's air quality index goes up to only 500, and the agency advises that anything greater than 300 would trigger a health warning of "emergency conditions," with the entire population likely affected.

While some people vowed to stay indoors with air purifiers turned on, Beijing's streets were still fairly busy Sunday, and there was the familiar sight of heavy traffic on main thoroughfares.

A young couple strolled along hand in hand in the central business district, both with matching white masks strung around their faces. Two Taiwanese tourists wore masks they said they had brought with them because they heard Beijing's pollution was so bad.

"I don't know why there is such heavy haze these past days. It's really quite serious compared with the air quality three days ago," said a 33-year-old lawyer, who would give only his surname, Liu, as he adjusted his own mask. He said he had ventured out only because he needed to go shopping.

Beijing's air started to worsen on Thursday. The Beijing monitoring center has said the pollution is expected to linger until Tuesday.

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[Polka_Dancer]

No matter how bad the air quality is in Beijing, people won't do anything about it because they want the jobs and businesses want labor as cheap as possible. Furthermore, it could be decades before anyone breathing the air in Beijing today actually gets sick from it. At the same time, the industries which cause poor air quality also cause global warming which means sending factories to China may make Americans breath a little easier in the short term but could still have devastating effects on American agriculture and natural resources over the long term.

[rzarc2]

Several industrial cities have already seen a spike in birth defects in the past several years.

[kkenb08]

China created the mess so let them live with it, maybe they will die out sooner.

[rzarc2]

Trouble is we all breathe same air and eventually drink the water.

[167irishboy]

American companies couldn't pollute here anymore, so they bribed the communist party in China and now they can pour plutonium over the Chinese workers if they want to.

I grew up in a old steel mill town in the Pittsburgh region. I know how rivers smell of chemicals, you can't see across the street, the cancer rates are ten times the national average, and cars have a orange film on them just a day or two after being washed.

You Tea Party right wing nut cases want to get rid of the EPA? Don't be so sure you know what you are talking about. Because you don't.

[kkenb08]

Tea bagger GOP would love to have this here. Pure GREED for the Koch brothers and big Oil. The Hell with the middle class and the poor.

[gtdave68]

This is pretty brutal. http://bjair.info (hourly readings) was showing the AQI above 710...the EPA scale only goes to 500. I used to live in Beijing and remember days like this...it's psychologically tough because you can't even escape it in your home...you literally see particles backlit in your light fixtures. Hate to be there now.

[legacyabq]

This is what the quest for low price over good quality has gotten us, or them I should say.. Except all our jobs went over there too..

[magnumdr]

So that's why we sent all of our factory jobs overseas.

[rzarc2]

Yep, one of the reasons. It really is filthy over there. I know first hand.

[kkenb08]

You can thank the GOP for sending the jobs too. Ask Rummy why he invested in China. GREED.

[ugleyme]

The West's successful plan to conquer communism. Kill 'em all, then their land will be ours.

[xila654]

Just goes to show the liberals really don't care about our planet but rather destroying the American way of life. They would rather have everything made in China where there are no environmental regulations instead of America where our companies comply with pollution standards. As long as it not made in our backyard it doesn't matter!
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rzarc2 replies:
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You're an azz. It has been the GOP push to outsource our jobs to China and other low cost countries all in a effort to make more profits. It has also been the efforts of you fake cons to de-fang our environmental protections all in the name of profits above all else.

YOU would rather have maximum pollution in OUR skies and water if somebody can make more off of it. Try working in China sometime and see if you want to live like that. I have for short periods of time and I always want to kiss the ground of good ole USA when I return.


You people are playing into the hands of the elite, Dems and Repubs are following the same agenda, you have to read between the lines

[rzarc2]

xila654....You people are playing into the hands of the elite, Dems and Repubs are following the same agenda, you have to read between the lines.
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There is a lot of truth in your statement; the GOP is just following it with more aggressiveness.

[Topkitty27]

The cancer of GOP greed has spread to China. That's one way to keep workers off of Social Security! Republicans would simply LOVE to make America look like that just to save freight cost.
The thought of workers literally dieing to work for them, must work like Viagra for Republicans.

[avnrulz]

So glad we are being forced to drive electric cars and use mecury-laden light bulbs and the like so China can pollute worse than us.