Beijing’s smog off the scale but still no sign of top red alert
Beijing’s schools remain open despite pollution going beyond ‘hazardous’
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 01 December, 2015, 11:56pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 02 December, 2015, 12:28am
Zhuang Pinghui
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Vehicles travel through a main thoroughfare during a hazy day in Beijing on Tuesday. Photo: EPA
Frustration is mounting in Beijing over the municipal government’s response to air pollution, which on Tuesday grew so bad that it went beyond the worst official terms to describe it.
Smog blanketed the capital for a fifth straight day on Tuesday, sending visibility in some areas down to 200 metres and the city’s pollution index well beyond “hazardous”, the highest level on the smog scale.
Concentrations of PM2.5 particles, those most dangerous to human health, were particularly severe in the city’s south.
But the authorities still did not issue the top pollution alert for what is the worst case of air pollution in Beijing this year.
A red alert, the highest in the four-tier system, would force schools to shut down and cars to stay off the road on alternate days. It should be issued when severe air pollution persists for more than 72 hours, but the capital remains on orange alert, one step below red.
A Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau official said the orange alert had already led to shutdowns at factories and construction sites, The Beijing News reported. The official said the red alert was not necessary because a cold front was expected to clear the air on Wednesday morning.
But many residents, especially parents, are not convinced.
“We should be allowed to keep our children at home when the air is so bad like today. When the air pollution is bad enough for a red alert, it should be red,” said parent Yang Tao, whose son is a primary school pupil in Dongcheng district.
“The pupils have to stay in their classrooms with the doors and windows shut. But 30 students in a packed, closed room is not a good idea.”
A tricycle taxi rider waits for customers on a heavily polluted evening in Beijing on Tuesday. Photo: AFP
Commuters also said their daily routines had been disrupted by the choking conditions.
Ye Ningya, a 19-year-old university student, said he had stopped jogging because of the poor air, opting instead to work out at a gym. He has an air purifier at home and makes sure to wear protective masks when going outside.
“I know the air is just as bad indoors but it feels better that I am doing something, even though it might not be enough,” Ye said.
The air quality in his hometown Xian , Shaanxi province, was just as bad and he saw no way for the government to improve the air quality soon.
Gao Meng, 30, a research and development engineer for a tea factory in Beijing, said she expected air quality to improve gradually. Drastic measures such as shutting down factories should not be considered because it would take a toll on the bottom line of those operations.
Gao said she wore a mask filled with tea leaves to combat the pollution and drank tea to “clean my lungs”.
Some other Beijing residents were relying on their sense of humour to cope, sketching in Beijing’s landmarks on photos of smog and writing odes on how only the bold went outdoors.
The pop song Beijing, Beijing has also resurfaced online with new, darker lyrics replacing the original cheery lines.
“Who is searching in the smog? Who is breathing in the smog? Who is living in the smog? Who is dying in the smog?” the new downbeat interpretation goes.
