Is Beijing's Air a Laughing Matter?

The Beijingers | Jan 17, 2013 4:00 pm | 25 comments | 10031 reads

Beijing is finally clearing up after record-breaking levels of pollution. But the next round of smog is bound to arrive sooner or later. Maybe you've already gotten yourself an air filter and masks. What else can you do? Well, rather than idly wait and hope for effective environmental policies, we've decided to take a lighter look at the "airpocalypse."

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Generate your own Beijing air memes here and share them in the comments below.

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admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Sat, 01/19/2013 - 16:46

TX_Chick wrote:
that's a screenshot from an app that displays the US Embassy's readings and China's official reading so you can see the disparity in how they measure pollution. The top one is obviously the more reliable one, as it uses WHO pollution standards to measure.

the us embassy is a single point reading -- at the embassy near Lufthansa / northern part of the 3rd Ring Road.

The official China reading is a average of many readings across the city.

If you live downtown and fairly near a major roadway (as I'd guess about 75% of expats do), the embassy reading is probably more of a reflection of the air you are actually breathing.

If you happen to spread your time evenly between downtown, far northwestern Haidian, and the tips of mountaintops on the far outskirts of the city where some of the air monitors are placed, then the China average is probably more accurate.

The reality of what you're breathing is probably somewhere in between.

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TX_Chick's picture TX_Chick Submitted by Guest on Sat, 01/19/2013 - 09:07

Monkey King wrote:
admin wrote:
and as if on queue, here's your AQI heading into Friday night here in Beijing:

It jumped 160 points in an hour? Is that even possible? Makes me think one of those readings was off. The lower one, probably.

I guess we picked the right time to spend the winter in the U.S..

No, it didn't jump that much in an hour, that's a screenshot from an app that displays the US Embassy's readings and China's official reading so you can see the disparity in how they measure pollution. The top one is obviously the more reliable one, as it uses WHO pollution standards to measure.

Monkey King's picture Monkey King Submitted by Guest on Fri, 01/18/2013 - 23:32

admin wrote:
and as if on queue, here's your AQI heading into Friday night here in Beijing:


It jumped 160 points in an hour? Is that even possible? Makes me think one of those readings was off. The lower one, probably.

I guess we picked the right time to spend the winter in the U.S..

WARNING: China Foreign Teachers' Union (CFTU) is a scam run by a convicted felon. UPDATE: He's now calling it China Teacher's Alliance. Still a scam.

Monkey King's picture Monkey King Submitted by Guest on Fri, 01/18/2013 - 22:48

Iain S wrote:

Probably an incorrect usage of the meme. Sorry.

I would call it a grossly incorrect usage, if I worried about such things.

This one's properly applied, though:

Iain S wrote:

WARNING: China Foreign Teachers' Union (CFTU) is a scam run by a convicted felon. UPDATE: He's now calling it China Teacher's Alliance. Still a scam.

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