Ease Your Pollution Blues With These Instagram and Twitter Pics of Beijing's Autumn Leaves

To paraphrase a famous song: all the leaves are (breathtakingly golden) brown, and the sky is grey.

At least that's the impression Beijingers will be left with after glimpsing a recent Tweet posted by China Xinhua News. The state news agency's recent social media post features four photos with practically glittering golden leaves strewn about every which way.

Aside from the photos, the Tweet reads: "Autumn has painted the world yellow and gold. Enjoy the sceneries of ginkgo trees in suburb of Beijing."

Sadly, the Xinhua Tweet doesn't feature any details about which specific suburb the photos were snapped, or who the photographer was (if only; we'd follow their Instagram in a heartbeat!). But at least there's plenty of information online about the type of trees in the photos; the Arbor Day Foundation's website describes ginkgo how trees' "unique, fan-shaped leaves turn a stunning yellow color in the fall" while also saying they "can tolerate many urban conditions including heat, air pollution, salt and confined spaces."

That last detail is especially pertinent for Beijingers, given the severe pollution forecast for the next few days, and a recent smog alert that prompted the South China Morning Post to declare that "smog season" has once again "set in" in the capital.

Thankfully, those depressing grey skies can be offset by colorful leaves in some corners of the capital, at least for a little longer. Beijingers hoping to glimpse such vibrant scenes should check out China Highlights' list of ginkgo tree havens at several Beijing temples like Dajue, Tanzhe and Xifeng (it also has handy bus routes for each destination, well written blurbs about them, and several gorgeous photographs of colorful leaves). Virtual Tourist, meanwhile, also has a handy post about Fragrant Hills park in the west of Beijing, arguably the region's most famous destination to snap fall photos. We suggest you shutterbugs quickly use those guides like the indispensable resources they are, before all the leaves blow away.

Any of you indoorsy types can instead opt to follow Beijing fall Instagram fans @zhuzhukai629 and @WENDAODAO, the latter of whom snapped shots of dazzling red leaves at Galaxy SOHO, of all places. Many of their pictures are from prior years, but hopefully they'll post plenty more images of falling leaves this season, and hopefully many of you dear readers will do the same.

And just in case you forgot what grey looks like ...

If you have any photogenic spots to view autumn leaves, or any other Instagram or Weibo accounts documenting such dazzlingly colored trees, then feel free to let us know in the comments section below. Also, be sure to share your photos with us on Instagram at @the_Beijinger and on Twitter at @theBeijinger by tagging them with #theBeijinger.

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Email: kylemullin@truerun.com
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Photos: Twitter/Xinhua, Instagram (@zhuzhukai629, @WENDAODAO