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Thread: China's Pollution problem

  1. #1
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    China's Pollution problem

    I was tempted to post this as an independent thread when the issue first surfaced in world news, but it'll sit well here. There's a relevant post in the Shaolin forum already.

    OPINION ASIA February 5, 2013, 11:20 a.m. ET
    How Beijing Hid the Smog
    China can reverse its air pollution nightmare by committing to real transparency and enforcement.
    By STEVEN Q. ANDREWS

    Last month Beijing's air quality horror show reached a nightmarish crescendo. January 2013 recorded by far the highest levels of pollution in recent years. Judging by the statistics, the smog that engulfed China's capital was as inevitable as it was apocalyptic. Though government only began reporting concentrations of harmful fine particulate pollution earlier this year, concentrations of a key precursor, nitrogen dioxide, have been significantly higher than 2008 levels for each of the past four years.

    China can reverse this downward spiral, but only by committing to the kind of real transparency and enforcement that have historically been in short supply.

    When Beijing began reporting air quality data 15 years ago, officials congratulated themselves for their transparency, then turned around and tried to paint a rosy picture. In order to promote progress in combating pollution and put pressure on government officials, days that met China's air quality standards were called blue sky days. Amazingly, every single year the reported annual tally of blue sky days increased—even as pollution levels further deteriorated.

    Though the Chinese government has continued to report raw data, it ended the blue-sky campaign in early 2012 because of growing public skepticism about official blue sky counts. That skepticism was fueled by hourly updates from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing's Twitter feed. Since August 2008, the embassy has tweeted independently measured pollution concentrations and described them according to a health index developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

    The effort revealed that China's blue sky days often had hazardous levels of pollution. Using Embassy data, Chinese programmers developed mobile apps that have been downloaded more than one million times. One app, rather than telling people whether it was a blue sky day, used a more effective metric: whether a pollution mask should be used when venturing out in the smog.


    Getty Images
    A tourist walks through severe pollution in Tiananmen Square, Jan. 31.

    For most of the last month, a mask has been recommended. The monthly average fine particulate concentration in January 2013 was 200 micrograms per cubic meter. To be considered good in the U.S, air must have a daily fine particulate concentration of no more than 12 micrograms.

    Last month, nine days in Bejing had hazardous fine particulate concentration more than 300 micrograms and Jan. 13 reached an apocalyptic 630 micrograms. Even Beijing's annual average of more than 90 micrograms in recent years has been far higher than the worst day at the worst monitoring station in the smoggy U.S. city of Los Angeles (60 micrograms).

    If Beijing wants to get serious about tackling pollution, it won't be enough to come clean on air quality data. The government also needs to toughen the health standards by which that data is judged. Although China's descriptions of pollution were recently revised, pollution levels that are six times higher than the U.S. standard are still classified as good air quality. Even the highest daily fine particulate concentration recorded last year in Los Angeles would be considered good in China.

    Enforcement poses another challenge. There's no doubt that the Chinese government can deliver genuine blue skies for important events. Despite world-wide concern, the Olympics had reasonable air quality. During both the 60th anniversary of the Communist party in October 2009, and the once-a-decade Communist Party transition in November 2012, air quality was again relatively good.

    But while Beijing can require emissions control measures and create temporary good air quality when there is a political imperative, regular environmental enforcement is largely non-existent. The U.S., in contrast, has had relatively strong and consistent enforcement.

    In 2008, the EPA under President George W. Bush, sometimes criticized for weak enforcement, collected a civil penalty of more than $5 million from Exxon Mobil for failing to monitor and report emissions at a single refinery in Texas. Last year, under the Obama administration, there were 10 civil penalties of more than $1 million for various violations of the U.S. Clean Air Act. Required pollution control investments under the penalty agreements totaled approximately $1 billion.

    In China, the maximum statutory fine for refusing to report emissions data is only 50,000 yuan ($7,653) and penalties for exceeding emission standards can only reach twice that at 100,000 yuan. Although transparency on fines is lacking, state-run media reported in 2011 that the Ministry of Environmental Protection fined 11 power plants for disabling monitoring equipment, manipulating data and exceeding standards.

    The violators included China Power Investment, China Guodian, China Huadian and China Datang. China Datang, a Global 500 company which owns three of the offending plants, is a state-owned enterprise. The total fine for each facility was never more than 150,000 yuan.

    Even in the absence of much transparency on enforcement, it's easy to understand why factories cheat. It costs less to pay penalties for exceeding emissions limits than it does to use the emissions control equipment that plants have already been required to install.

    China is in the process of revising its Air Pollution Control Law. Beijing also recently released its own new air pollution regulations for public comment. If penalties for violations are increased, there is hope that meaningful enforcement and lasting air quality improvements will finally begin. But for now, unless you are visiting Beijing for a major event, be sure to pack a pollution mask.

    Mr. Andrews is an environmental and legal consultant based in Beijing.
    Gene Ching
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    an effort to restore life to the lake

    Algae is life. They don't need to 'restore life' here. They need to stop dumping synthetic chemical fertilizers there.
    A Lost Renoir? River in China Looks Like an Oil Painting
    2 days ago by John Stuart Translations



    With its saturated colors, a picture of a lake in China’s Anhui Province looks like a painting that could have been done by the French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. No Photoshop trickery here though, the above image is an actual photograph of the lake. But how did it get this way?



    Though it looks like green paint, the slime-like substance scooped off the lake’s surface in the above photo is in fact algae, which, due to the effects of synthetic chemical fertilizers, has bred in large numbers. Though continued economic growth has brought prosperity to some parts of the country, accompanying environmental pollution problems such as urban air quality and the state of lakes like this one are once again attracting attention.



    The Chinese government has reportedly spent 7.4 billion yen (about 77 million US dollars) in an effort to restore life to the lake shown here.

    Comments posted on the Internet in reference to the top photo include, “it looks like a piece by Van Gogh,” “it resembles a green tea latte,” and “it’s like a landscape painting.” We in Japan cannot be too smug, however, as our own country experienced a plethora of similar environmental issues during its rapid growth stage in the 60s and 70s. Hopefully those experiences can be leveraged to help improve the situation in China and we can work together in creating and sustaining a better global environment.
    Gene Ching
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    Drinking bitter

    More fallout from the pigs perhaps?

    Are Rotting Pig Corpses to Blame for China’s Electric Pink Drinking Water?
    2 days ago by Andrew Miller




    A little while back, we reported on the air pollution problem over in China. This week, however, a different form of pollution has come to light. On first sight, you’d be forgiven for mistaking this for a prop from a mutant zombie movie. However what can be seen in the picture above is in fact the tap water of a residential area in Jinan, China. In total, over 500 inhabitants of the area have fallen victim to this most recent ‘pink water’ phenomenon.

    Obviously drinking the stuff is out of the question and many residents have been forced, as a temporary measure, to secure rations of bottled water. Just how contaminated this water is remains unclear, but even more intriguing is what caused the phenomenon in the first place. And how harmful could it actually be? Could simply giving the stuff a good, long sniff be hazardous to people’s health?



    Looking closely at the above pictures, one gets the impression that the liquid pouring out of the kitchen tap is highly poisonous. Not needing to go so far as to analyse the substance to know it’s a clear health hazard, the residents witnessing the problem first-hand are left with no choice but to buy bottled water and wonder what the cause of it could be.

    There have been reports in recent weeks of dead pigs being dumped and washed down the Haunpu river in Shanghai, with many of the animals confirmed as being diseased. However any direct correlation between this and the pink water phenomenon in Jinan has been denied. Nevertheless, with frequent instances of air and environmental pollution in some form or another, China’s inner-city residents are beginning to distrust their government more each day.



    Even in Japan, incidents of discoloration in the drinking water are occurring on a daily basis somewhere across the country. However, in this instance, discoloration is normally related to rusty pipes and has no connection to the quality of the water supply itself.

    Admittedly, one can foresee similar problems arising again in the future if measures to halt pollution aren’t put in place by the Chinese government.

    Thoughts from readers around the world regarding China’s pink water issue include:

    It’s got to be potassium permanganate.

    Pollution from the sewer system.

    Holy water.

    I’m not sure what it is but just thinking about it terrifies me.

    I like the color!

    Boiling it would surely make it drinkable. Not a problem.

    It shivers me to the bones to think what type of raw chemicals have seeped out this time.

    Pig corpses.

    We’ll have more on this story as it breaks.
    Gene Ching
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    Oh ****, pink drinking water! That is crazy.

    I remember a long time ago when I was a student at Shanghai Foreign Languages University there was a creek by the university that smelled awful. It would have been highly poisonous. I think there were several paint factories nearby pumping into the river, since the colour changed almost daily: sometimes blueish, sometimes milk coloured, sometimes milky-green. Anyway, one day there were workman knocking down a brick wall by the creek, and watching from about the sixth floor up with my roommate, we were praying to ourselves that they didn't fall in, since whatever was in the river, I can't imagine putting it anywhere near your skin would be at all healthy, let alone, god forbid, drinking some. Thankfully, they survived without taking an acid dip.

    And the river full of dead pigs now too! What's happening?!

    It wasn't that long ago too that Beijing had the worst levels of air pollution ever. What will China do about this? It needs to move forward yes, but this isn't.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sima Rong View Post
    Oh ****, pink drinking water! That is crazy.

    I remember a long time ago when I was a student at Shanghai Foreign Languages University there was a creek by the university that smelled awful. It would have been highly poisonous. I think there were several paint factories nearby pumping into the river, since the colour changed almost daily: sometimes blueish, sometimes milk coloured, sometimes milky-green. Anyway, one day there were workman knocking down a brick wall by the creek, and watching from about the sixth floor up with my roommate, we were praying to ourselves that they didn't fall in, since whatever was in the river, I can't imagine putting it anywhere near your skin would be at all healthy, let alone, god forbid, drinking some. Thankfully, they survived without taking an acid dip.

    And the river full of dead pigs now too! What's happening?!

    It wasn't that long ago too that Beijing had the worst levels of air pollution ever. What will China do about this? It needs to move forward yes, but this isn't.
    i visited shanghai last month and its the cleanest city i seen in china. they seemed to clean up a lot of garbage and pollution.

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    Quote Originally Posted by bawang View Post
    i visited shanghai last month and its the cleanest city i seen in china. they seemed to clean up a lot of garbage and pollution.
    yes, nowadays shanghai has a lot more trees and green spaces, and significantly less pollution than places like Beijing. To be fair, my statement was from a long time ago. But there are less bikes around now than then and more cars. Still, yes, shanghai isn't too bad. Not great, but much better than many other cities in china yes.

  7. #7
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    15% deaths due to air pollution. Pig death count @ 16,000

    Air Pollution Accounting for 15 Percent of Deaths in China
    7 hours ago by John Stuart Translations

    According to the April 2 edition of Chinese daily newspaper the 21st Century Business Herald, in the year 2010 an incredible 1.23 million people lost their lives across China due to air pollution-related illnesses. The number accounts for 15 percent of total deaths recorded in the country for 2010. The information was revealed by a study group at Tsinghua University on March 31.

    Experts report pollutants such as those in the form of micro-particulate matter (particles smaller than 2.5 micro meters) enter the blood every time they are inhaled, causing damage to the respiratory system as well as cerebral and heart ailments.

    Toward the end of last year through the beginning of this year, a dense haze containing toxic substances covered up to 25 percent of the Chinese mainland, affecting close to half the country’s population, or 600 million people. The number of people who developed air pollution-related diseases was 20-30 percent greater compared to previous years.

    “In order to achieve sustainable development, it is necessary to firmly deal with air pollution and the health hazards posed,” stressed Guo Xinbiao, a professor of public health at the Peking University Health Science Center.
    Rivers of blood: the dead pigs rotting in China's water supply
    Shanghai's drinking water is under threat after 16,000 diseased pig carcasses are found in tributaries of the Huangpu river
    Nicola Davison in Jiaxing
    The Guardian, Friday 29 March 2013 12.09 EDT


    A worker hauls up dead pigs found floating in the Huangpu river flowing into Shanghai. Photograph: AP

    Standing on the quay, Mrs Wu jokes that there are more pigs than fish in Jiapingtang river. But she isn't smiling. The 48-year-old fisherwoman, who lives in Xinfeng, a sleepy country village, recalls splashing about in the river as a child on sticky summer days. Today it is inky black, covered in a slick of lime green algae, and it smells like a blocked drain. "Look at the water, who would dare to jump in?" says Wu. At her feet a dead piglet bobs on the river's surface, bouncing against the shore.

    This area of Zhejiang province, 60 miles from Shanghai, has become the subject of public and media scrutiny after more than 16,000 dead pigs were found in tributaries of the city's river, the Huangpu, a source of tapwater. As clean-up efforts wind down, mystery surrounds the cause of the pigs' demise and their appearance in the river.

    As public concerns about water safety grow, what has emerged is a picture of a rural region marred by catastrophic environmental damage, inherent malpractice and a black market meat trade.

    The first pigs were spotted on 7 March and were soon traced to Jiaxing through tags in their ears. Early tests show they carry porcine circovirus, a common disease among hogs not known to be infectious to humans. Shanghai's municipal water department maintains that the water meets the national standard, but hasn't said much more.

    Official opacity has only embittered a public who are increasingly vocal about environmental gripes. "A sluggish response, a lack of disclosure of official data and muddled information has done nothing to quell our doubts," says Weibo (a microblog) user diamondyangxiaowu. "In this environmental crisis China's rivers are facing, there's no time to dally."

    For Mrs Wu and her community it may be too late. Over the last decade she has witnessed the near collapse of her livelihood as pig farming in this region has prospered. Her house, a one-story breezeblock box, sits next to Jiapingtang river. Ten wooden flat-bottomed boats with makeshift roofs of plastic and tarpaulin are tethered to the quay. It is on these boats that Wu and her fellow villagers head out on to Jiaxing's network of waterways, though these days they are more likely to do clear-up work for local authorities than fish. A fisherman doing cleaning work from 7am-5pm seven days a week can earn up to 10,000 yuan (£1,000) a year, with an extra 150 yuan (£10.50) a day for carcasses.

    "A decade ago this village was prosperous and we lived a comfortable life," says Wu. She is dressed in a leopard-print padded jacket and black wellington boots – her work gear. "We paid for our houses by ourselves, sent our children to good schools and supported the elderly. Now things are a mess."

    The pig industry blossomed in Jiaxing in the 1980s. Last year China produced and consumed half the world's pork, about 50m tonnes. One village, Zhulin, which is at the centre of the scandal, earned the nickname "to Hong Kong" for its steady supply of meat to the territory. Most families in Zhulin keep pigs; the village's ample fields, which in March are covered in yellow rapeseed flowers, yield hundreds of squat concrete barns holding dozens of squealing hogs.

    This upsurge is one explanation for the carcasses, though officials are reluctant to say so. "We have seven dead pig processing plants. Each is 100 cubic metres large and can gather thousands of dead pigs," says Chen Yuanhua, party secretary for Zhulin. According to a 2011 report by Zhejiang province's environmental protection bureau, 7.7m pigs are raised in Jiaxing. With a mortality rate of 2-4%, up to 300,000 carcasses need to be disposed of each year. "We have some difficulties with the growing number of pig farms and a lack of funding and land to build more plants," Chen says. He concedes that some farmers throw dead pigs into the rivers "for convenience".

    There could be another, murkier reason behind the pig manifestation. On 23 March, state-run China Central Television (CCTV) exposed how illegally processed pigs have been making their way into markets for years. While farmers are required by law to send animals that die of disease or natural causes to processing pits, black market dealers intercept the chain, butchering the hogs to sell as pork. Last November a Jiaxing court sentenced three such butchers to life in prison. The offenders had processed 77,000 carcasses, making almost 9m yuan (£1m) profit.

    Because of the crackdown, black market traders have stopped buying the dead stock and farmers have resorted to dumping. Pan Huimin, a Zhulin resident who is in custody on suspicion of dealing in dead pigs told CCTV there was "a 100%" correlation between his arrest and the dead pigs incident.

    News of this illicit meat trade doesn't faze the residents of the Jingxiang fishing commune, a few miles from Zhulin. The trade is considered not ideal, but normal. Inside the common room, bare lightbulbs illuminate a poster of Mao Zedong on the wall, as a group of elderly residents play mahjong in the corner. There used to be 250 fishermen here, but because of the rampant pollution the 60 left mainly clean rivers.

    One resident, Mr Li, says his community has been complaining since 2003. "Things changed in the early 2000s when more pig farms turned up and their waste water, manure and carcasses poured into the river," he says. "Though we've been petitioning for years, rather than an improvement the situation has deteriorated. The local government's slow responses always pass the buck."

    Such negligence exacerbates the serious water quality issues China faces. Greenpeace East Asia estimates that 320m people in the country are without access to clean drinking water. A 2011 study by the ministry of environmental protection found that of 118 cities, 64 had "seriously contaminated" groundwater supplies.

    Yang Hanchun, of the Chinese Association of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, says China has comprehensive laws for the protection of the environment against animal husbandry, but authorities often fail to uphold them.
    Protests quashed

    Over the weeks since the discovery of 16,000 pig carcasses in Shanghai's water supply, authorities have consistently worked to quell public outcry, reiterating that drinking water is safe. While there have been reports and discussion of the incident in state media and on the country's rollicking microblog network, which is curtailed by censors, attempts to organise protests have been swiftly quashed.

    Pan Ting, an outspoken Shanghainese poet, was detained for questioning by police after she posted a call for a mass walk along the Huangpu, the city's central river, on her Sina Weibo account. The post, which went out to her 50,000 followers on 14 March, called for a "pure stroll" without banners or slogans. Soon afterwards she was asked to "drink tea" with the police – an idiom used to describe interrogations. On her other Weibo account she later posted: "I feel very disappointed. You even shut out a voice concerned about local pollution and your own lives. I will see how long you will shut me out. At least uncle tea said to me: I understand where you are coming from."

    As news about Pan's detention spread through Weibo, prominent users voiced support. "Just because a young woman said a few honest words about the dead pig issue, she was detained, banned and forced to hand in all of her communication devices," said Li Minsheng, a well-known writer. "She was even 'missing' for three hours! Her only request was: 'Please do not come ring my doorbell early in the morning or in the middle of the night to scare my mum.' As a big city that has hosted the World Expo, why can't Shanghai tolerate a poet? What law has Pan Ting violated? Please respond to the whole nation, Shanghai!"

    Additional reporting: Xia Keyu.
    I've always thought PRC was post-apocalyptic.
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    They are improving

    China has been undertaking unprecedented ecological restoration efforts to deal with its problems of pollution. It has one of the world's largest recycling programs and reforestation programs and is leading the world with the introduction of a carbon tax. It's just the magnitude of China is so huge, that even these efforts aren't enough. That's why I say it's post-apocalyptic. In many ways, China is facing the same kinds of problems we'll see all around the world given projected population growth.

    No independent farmer in the PRC has 16,000 pigs.
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  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    China has been undertaking unprecedented ecological restoration efforts to deal with its problems of pollution. It has one of the world's largest recycling programs and reforestation programs and is leading the world with the introduction of a carbon tax. It's just the magnitude of China is so huge, that even these efforts aren't enough. That's why I say it's post-apocalyptic. In many ways, China is facing the same kinds of problems we'll see all around the world given projected population growth.

    No independent farmer in the PRC has 16,000 pigs.
    Nice to hear it's true. At least I hope it's true. For everyones sake. We all need to step up here. I'm pretty surer their were a lot of western consultants that helped frame their version of the EPA.


    So if it isn't independent, why is it so hard to identify where they come from? Do they not mark their livestock? I wouldn't be surprised to hear an indy farmer not marking their stock, but a big one? I mean, what kind of food safety program do they have over there? It should be illegal to not tag them.

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    If this keeps up, I might split this into a China's colored water indie thread

    Green, then pink, now red. I can't believe this guy compared it to Red Bean Soup.

    Also, please contain additional bacon posts to the bacon thread.
    Red water leads to resignation, public apology
    Updated: 2013-04-08 01:59
    By ZHENG JINRAN in Shijiazhuang (China Daily)

    A team of experts has been set up to test drinking water believed to have killed 700 chickens.

    The intense publicity surrounding the "red water" has led to the resignation of the head of environmental protection and the company responsible for the pollution issuing a public apology.

    "Experts have taken samples from ditches and underground water, including the water pumped from 50 and 100 meters deep," Tian Hongxia, a spokeswoman for Cangxian county, Hebei province, said on Sunday. "They need time to test all the samples."

    They have been conducting tests on red water since it was exposed on March 29, yet no results had been released as of Sunday.

    Before the results were released, the government suggested residents and livestock not use shallow groundwater.

    The water running through ditches or pumped from deep underground in Xiaozhuzhuang village was found to be red and with an unpleasant odor.

    At least 700 chickens died after drinking the water since November, according to media reports.

    The serious water pollution has attracted much public attention.

    Yuan Wenchao, 35, who lives in the neighboring village about 10 km away, said his family has started to check the color of the water before drinking.

    "I think without effective measures for control, we will suffer the same fate as the chickens," he said.

    Yet the county's former head of environmental protection, Deng Lianjun, denied any risk. "The color does not mean the water is polluted. You know, after boiling with red beans the water has that color, too."

    His response to the pollution drew more criticism, forcing him to resign. The county government announced on Friday that they dismissed Deng as Party secretary of the bureau and suggested the Standing Committee of People's Congress remove him as head of the bureau.

    The company responsible for discharging pollutants in rivers for a number of years, Hebei Jianxin Chemicals, has issued a public apology. The company's branch in Cangxian was closed after a sulfur trioxide leak in 2011.

    The company said the remaining materials caused the pollution, and they will take full responsibility.

    "We will remove the remaining manufacturing shop and equipment as soon as possible and follow the professional suggestions on environment modification," the announcement from the company said on Friday, yet no detailed measures have been released.

    Liu Xiaoduan, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, said: "Based on the strange color of the drinking water, we can say that the water has been polluted.

    "We have the technology and skills to restore the water quality as long as we find the pollutants and ways of pollution," she said, adding that the priority is to keep the source of pollution under control.

    Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, said the company should take measures to improve the situation, but said the government is lacking in supervision.

    "Cangxian is not the only place where rivers were polluted by large chemical or steel companies for years," he said. "They can cause the pollution over a long time without punishment all because they are the major contributor of government revenue."

    The most important solution to reduce the chance of pollution is to improve the law and make individuals and groups pay a higher price for pollution, he added.

    Pei Pei in Shijiazhuang contributed to this story.

    zhengjinran@chinadaily.com.cn
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    breathing bitter

    Man, I'd love to meet the spin doctor who came up with this beauty. WTH must they have been thinking to run such a claim?

    “5 Surprising Benefits of Smog” Jokes CCTV, Chinese Reactions
    by Bing on Wednesday, December 11, 2013


    CCTV news claimed that heavy smog brings five unexpected advantages

    Chinese people has been harassed by the frequently occurring heavy smog in China. But on December 8th, a reporter for state-broadcaster CCTV published an article that says the smog has five surprising benefits: The smog makes Chinese people more united, more equal, more clear-headed, more humorous, and more knowledgeable. On December 9th, many media reprinted this article and pasted the link on their own official microblog accounts, sparking both outrage and derision among Chinese netizens.

    From Sina Weibo:

    @头条新闻: CCTV Media Claims Smog Has Brought “Five Surprising Gains” — The CCTV website published an article claiming, “You may have realized that the smog that you hate bitterly and feel helpless is not all bad, because at the same time it has wrecked havoc on on the Divine Land [a poetic name for China], it has also brought us five major benefits.” Including: Smog has made Chinese people more united; smog has made Chinese people more equal; smog has made Chinese people more clear-headed [aware]; smog has made Chinese people more humorous; smog has made Chinese people more knowledgeable. Details: http://t.cn/8kMzqWb [original article has since been removed]

    From Sina Weibo:

    @每日经济新闻: CCTV Website: The Five Unexpected Benefits Brought By Smog — First, the smog has made Chinese people more united. The nation’s people have formed an “anti-smog national united front”. Everyone takes turns suffering with no one capable of feeling much superiority over others. Second, in the face of smog, everyone is equal. Third, the smog has made Chinese people more clear-headed, strengthening our awareness of danger/misery. Fourth, the smog has made Chinese people even more humorous. Finally, the smog has made Chinese people learn more knowledge.



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    Kung fu vs Smog

    http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/52...-fight-air.htm

    A primary school in China has started teaching children kung fu - as a form of self-defence against air pollution.

    Heavily contaminated smog is a huge problem in China, with children regularly kept indoors to protect them.

    Many children grow up with asthma and other respiratory illnesses and the pollution was recently blamed for a child being diagnosed with lung cancer. State media said the eight-year-old girl had contracted the disease after being exposed to harmful particles in the air throughout her life.

    In a bid to protect children from the air pollution, the Guangming Road Primary School in China's northern Hebei province has designed kung fu aerobics to mitigate the effects of the smog on the body, Xinhua reports.

    The school has developed 23 moves, two of which involve pressing an acupoint and breathing deeply into the belly.

    Acupoints boost immune system

    Wei Huangiang, the deputy dean of the school who designed the kung fu aerobics, said the moves are effective against air pollution: "Pressing the Hegu acupoint, located between the thumb and index finger at the back of the hand, helps promote lungs' detoxification. Breathing into the belly dispels more residue gas left in human organs, reducing the harm caused by smog."

    The kung fu moves can be performed in the classroom and the exercises take about two minutes to complete. All the 470 students at the school are required to do the exercises four times per day on smoggy days.

    He Linxuan, a fourth-grade student, said: "The smog particles inhaled in our lungs are harmful, and we have to wear mouth cover on our way to school or home. We were taught that the aerobics help us to get rid of the dirty particles."

    However, not all are convinced about the health benefits of kung fu aerobics. Some online users said it is unrealistic to think a few simple moves can prevent the health effects of air pollution.

    Liu Erjun, a doctor with the traditional Chinese medicine department of the First Affiliated Hospital, said that while pressing certain acupoints during exercise can help to enhance people's immune systems, it is not clear how much help it would be in preventing diseases caused by the smog.
    "The true meaning of a given movement in a form is not its application, but rather the unlimited potential of the mind to provide muscular and skeletal support for that movement." Gregory Fong

  13. #13
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    Already went there, TaichiMantis....

    ...but on another thread: Eating bitter in China
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    ...but on another thread: Eating bitter in China
    *sigh* my fu is weak
    "The true meaning of a given movement in a form is not its application, but rather the unlimited potential of the mind to provide muscular and skeletal support for that movement." Gregory Fong

  15. #15
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    I'm thinking of splitting the China pollution posts into their own thread.

    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

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