The Chinese New Year begins tomorrow on February 10, but there may be little to celebrate in China's cities. For the past three weeks, Beijing residents have been gasping for air as thick smog so bad that it's been literally off the charts.
We measure air pollution using the EPA Air Quality Index, which has a scale running from 0 up to 500, depending on how thick the air is with small airborne particles. For example, New York City often reads 80, which is considered moderate and about 60 points higher than what's considered optimal.
Measuring from the top of the U.S. Embassy, Beijing, for the past month, has been anywhere from a hazardous 300 to as high as 755 on January 22, breaking records for how bad the air is there. And World Bank estimates that 16 of China's, including Beijing, cities rank in the top 20 most polluted in the world.
Air pollution at the level that Beijing is seeing causes a slew of health dangers. It's like the entire population, just by living there, is smoking one to three cigarettes a day. Pollution like that can cause inflammation of airways and put sufferers from lung and heart disease at a particular risk of death, according to Bloomberg.com. Also especially at risk are the unborn, infants and children under 3 years old, whose organs are still in development.
The Chinese government is taking only a few actions so far, including announcing the level of air pollution on state media and strengthening mandatory fuel-standards, which will take affect by the end of next year, according to a different Bloomberg report.
Of course effective action may slow down economic growth, which China is loathe to do, as much of the pollution can be traced to both more consumption, in the form of more cars on the road, and more production, in China's factories.
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