Smog continues to choke China

BEIJING – For the fourth straight day, health authorities in multiple Chinese cities advised residents to stay indoors Monday, as a blanket of smog continued to choke much of China after recording "beyond index" levels this weekend at air-quality monitoring stations run by the government and one run by the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

The capital and 32 other cities suffered "hazardous" air this weekend, local media reported, swelling hospitals with patients reporting respiratory and heart problems. Face masks sold quickly at pharmacies, and some airports and highways suffered delays and closures amid greatly reduced visibility.

But the government's increased disclosure of pollution data, and the state media's blanket coverage of the crisis, encouraged some Chinese environmentalists to see a silver lining amid the clouds darkening the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, where the priority of fast economic growth routinely swamps environmental concerns.

Unlike in previous years, China's citizens now enjoy greater access to official information about the filthy air they breathe. After public pressure, city governments have in the past year begun releasing measurements of PM2.5, tiny airborne particulates that pose the greatest health risks. On Saturday, parts of Beijing recorded PM2.5 levels more than 900 micrograms per cubic meter. The World Health Organization regards 25 micrograms per cubic meter a safe daily level.

Unusually, China's media have covered the problem in extensive detail over the past three days, including the state broadcaster CCTV, the Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper and popular tabloids in many cities, while websites offered real-time reporting of pollution data.

The pollution is the worst in Beijing since the municipal government started disclosing PM2.5 early last year, said Ma Jun, founder of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a Beijing non-profit. "It's also the first time that the Chinese public can access real-time monitoring data, so they understand it's not fog, it's smog," he said. That disclosure, plus the awareness-building of widespread media and Internet coverage, "hopefully make this a first step towards trying to regain the blue sky," Ma said.

Pollution has long been a sensitive issue in China. In the past, "we said at international meetings that environmental pollution was the inevitable outcome of capitalism" but did not occur under socialism, environmental law expert Wang Canfa wrote on the Sina Weibo microblogging site Sunday. Today, China's health ministry must investigate the death rate over recent days, mindful of London's deadly smog in 1952 that sparked lasting environmental change in the United Kingdom, he said.

Wang Yongchen, founder of the non-profit Green Earth Volunteers, lauded the spread of environmental knowledge, especially online. "Before, the government would say 'today the weather is good', even if it's not. Now not only the government, but the U.S. Embassy and non-governmental organizations also want to give information. When people know more, they can help themselves against the big factories, and they are now asking 'why is China so polluted?'" she said Sunday.

Companies often flout China's environmental laws because of lax enforcement, weak penalties and a prevailing attitude of "if I have money I can do anything," Wang said. But several successful public protests in the past year against polluting projects leave her hopeful that China is achieving "democracy through environmental issues." If enough parents get together to complain about pollution that traps their children indoors, "the government must do something," she said.

Housewife Wang Qinfeng, 35, bought several cotton and disposable paper masks in east Beijing on Sunday and planned to make her 10 year-old daughter wear one to school Monday. "I've felt uncomfortable breathing since yesterday, I can't even see the building just opposite me," she said. "I'm afraid my girl will breathe in polluted air. I'm glad the news said schoolchildren won't have outdoor activities. But I wish the government could do more, not just issuing PM 2.5 statistics, but reducing air pollution nationwide. Beijing is not a lonely island. If Beijing's air is clean in the future, but (surrounding) Hebei Province has bad air, we still can't escape," said Wang.

The heavy pollution, caused by coal burning, heavy industry and vehicle emissions, will continue until winds expected Wednesday dispel this haze that is trapped by cold weather, city authorities said. "I've never seen pollution as bad as this," sighed optician Zhao Yumei, 55, in central Beijing, who asked her octogenarian parents to stay indoors this weekend. "I know the government has taken some action, like moving away heavy industry and restricting car use, but it's not enough," she said. "The government and society paid a lot of attention to air pollution before the (2008) Olympic Games, but I feel they don't pay as much attention to it now."

Contributing: Sunny Yang