By Olivia Wu

I once turned on a BBC documentary to watch for fun, but after finishing it, I felt strengthless, almost useless. The documentary is called Climate Change: The Facts. It started off with a powerful male voice, stressing that our earth is in an urgent state as we are presented with "greater storms, greater floods, greater heat waves, extreme sea level……" If I were to watch this documentary just two years early, I wouldn't even believe a word it says. But now, with pandemic, with Zhengzhou floods, with all the early signs it had warned us in Beijing's Smog, and with cues and sufferings happening to friends, peers, and teachers around me, I now believe it with my entire heart, but I am afraid it is already too late.

The air pollution in Beijing taught a new vocabulary nationwide: PM2.5. It is a particle with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers, invisible to naked eyes, but breathable. According to A Review of 20 Years' Air Pollution Control in Beijing, Beijing had an "annual coal consumption of 28 million tons" already in 1998. (Nairobi, 2019) Not only that, vehicle emissions were also a growing challenge. As revealed by the statistics in the review, Beijing's "annual average ambient concentrations of CO, SO2 and NO2 climbed to 3.3mg/m3, 120µg/m3 and 74µg/m3 respectively." (Nairobi, 2019) By 2015, the PM2.5 concentration level grew to 305.91µg/m3, according to Chai Jing, a former CCTV presenter who revealed the truth about Beijing's Smog in her famous speech Under the Dome - Investigating China's Smog. Compared with the WHO standard of 25µg/m3, the American standard of 37.5µg/m3, and the European standard of 50µg/m3, and even with its own Chinese standard of 75µg/m3, 305.91µg/m3 was way past the limit. 

Jing Chai (2015) Chai Jing's review: Under the Dome – Investigating China's Smog

China relies on coal for almost 75% of its energy uses. Especially in Northern China, where coal-burning activities happen the most, people see yellowish air with naked eyes. Air quality in China first showed its warning sign in the 1980s, but as the fastest developing country in the world, China couldn't afford to risk slowing down the industrialization and losing its leading position. So it was ignored by all parts of the Chinese society, from state-owned big coal-burning corporations, to media news content under strict censorship, and to private cars running on the roads. Partially, because of the strict scrutiny and censorship on published media content in China, the mass was never properly informed by the media of this dangerous "slow-killer." 

The lack of open information leads to adults as well as children not wearing masks when going out to the streets, and schools continuing to conduct outdoor activities and sports competitions on smog days. However, people hurry when they see their children get sick. According to China Daily, there was "an increasing number of children suffering from respiratory illness." (Zheng, 2015) According to the Washington Post, "a pediatric hospital in downton Beijing has treated a record 9,000 children this [January], mostly flu, pneumonia, tracheitis, bronchitis and asthma patients." (Samenow 2013) 

Feng Yongbin/China Daily

The young are vulnerable to air pollution both in regards to their lung development and their irresistible nature of being active outdoors. (Finamore, 2013) Their lungs are relatively younger than adults, therefore more susceptible to polluted particles. And also because they need to run up and down outdoors, they breathe in more polluted air than adults do. It was not until 2015 that Beijing schools were ordered to keep students indoors, only to replace Physical Education class (the only outdoor activity Chinese students have) with extra Math class. Personally, as a victim myself, I do not have clear memories about actually breathing in the bad air, but I bear irresistible evidence: an extremely stubborn respiratory-related illness, which comes to visit me regularly every year.  

Work Cited:

Zheng, Jinran. 2015. "Beijing Gets Back Its Blue Sky as Heavy Pollution Disappears[2]- Chinadaily.Com.Cn." December 2, 2015. https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-12/02/content_22598822_2.htm.

Samenow, Jason. 2013. "Smog Pollution Chokes Beijing Air." Washington Post (blog). January 29, 2013. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/smog-pollution-chokes-beijing-air/2013/01/29/2d5a2a48-6a3f-11e2-af53-7b2b2a7510a8_blog.html.

Davies, Serena. 2019. Climate Change: The Facts. BBC Studios. https://robmanning.com/climate-change-the-facts/.

Jing Chai. 2015. Chai Jing's Review: Under the Dome – Investigating China's Smog 柴静雾霾调查：穹顶之下 (Full Translation). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6X2uwlQGQM.

Finamore, Barbara. 2013. "In China The Kids Aren't Alright." NRDC. April 6, 2013. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/barbara-finamore/china-kids-arent-alright.

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