On a Scale of 0 to 500, Beijing's Air Quality Top's "Crazy Bad" at 755

Although Beijing is among our favorite cities in China, we were disappointing to hear of the city's alarmingly high air pollution levels- Please note the excerpt below from The New York Times article published January 13, 2013. (Randy Lynch)

By Edward Wong:

Beijing- One Friday more than two years ago, an air-quality monitoring device atop the United States Embassy in Beijing recorded data so horrifying that someone in the embassy called the level of pollution "Crazy Bad" in an infamous Twitter post. That day the Air Quality Index, which uses standards set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, had crept above 500, which was supposed to be the top of the scale. 

So what phrase is appropriate to describe Saturday's jaw dropping reading of 755 at 8p.m., when all of Beijing looked like an airport smoker's lounge? Though an embassy spokesman said he did not immediately have comparative data, Beijing residents who follow the Twitter feed said the Saturday numbers appeared to be the highest recorded since the embassy began its monitoring system in 2008.

The embassy's @BeijingAir Twitter feed said the level of toxicity in the air was "Beyond Index," the terminology for levels above 500; the "Crazy Bad" label was used just once, in November 2010, before it was quickly deleted by the embassy from the Twitter feed. According to the Environmental Protection Agency levels between 301 and 500 are "Hazardous," meaning people should avoid all outdoor activity. The World Health Organization has standards that judge a score over 500 to be more than 20 times the level of particulate matter in the air deemed safe. 

In online conversations, Beijing residents tried to make sense of the latest readings.

"This is a historic record for Beijing,: Zhao Jing, a prominent Internet commentator who uses the pen name Michael Anti, wrote on twitter "I've closed the doors and windows; the air purifiers are all running automatically at full power." 

Other Beijing residents online describe the air as "post apocalyptic," "terrifying," and "beyond belief." 

The municipal government reported levels as high as 500 on Saturday evening from some monitoring stations. The Chinese system does not report numbers beyond 500. Nevertheless, readings in central Beijing throughout the day were at the extreme end of what is considered hazardous according to the United States EPA standards. (By comparison the air quality index in New York City using the same standards was 19 at 6a.m. on the same Saturday.)

Mainland Chinese Spending Less in Hong Kong

Here is an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal's 5/30/12 issue regarding the slowing China economy and its effect on Hong Kong.

Randy Lynch, Kipling & Clark

The Wall Street Journal

 A Hong Kong Craze Cools
By Te-Ping Chen & Jason Chow

The flood of mainland Chinese shoppers coming to Hong Kong to snap up luxury goods, expensive homes, art and wine is slowing.

Earlier this month, the usual flocks of mainland tourists that fill the city during Golden Week, a Chinese holiday period, were conspicuously smaller.  Likewise, interest in local art auctions and real estate among mainland consumers flagged in the latest quarter.

In recent years, the number of mainland tourists crossing the border to shop and see sights in Hong Kong has ballooned to more than 23 million a year- quadruple the city's population.  They have given rise to blocks of glittering storefronts filled with luxury retailers eager to cater to such visitors.

Shifting economic winds are affecting the trend, though.  Growth on the mainland is easing, credit is getting tighter and more people are worried about the global economy.  Some Chinese tourists, meanwhile, are simply going elsewhere.

Still, it can be a painful shift.  Last week Tiffany & Co., citing softening growth in China, among other factors, said its net sales would grow 7% to 8% this year, down from a previously expected 10%.  The jewelry retailer, which has 19 stores in mainland China and 10 in Hong Kong, said same-store Asian-Pacific sales rose 10% in the year's first three months, compared with 26% during the same period last year.

Overall growth in visits from mainland tourists to Hong Kong has been "decelerating quite sharply" in recent months, says Credit Suisse analyst Gabriel Chan.  The number of Hong Kong-bound mainland Chinese visitors in the first quarter rose 17% from a year earlier, USB says.

It isn't all a reflection of the economy.  Nine years after mainland China first began granting individual visas for mainland Chinese to visit the city, Hong Kong is no longer such an exotic destination.  "Instead of going to Hong Kong to shop four times a year, why not save money and go to Korea or Japan once?" Mr. Chan says.

In Hong Kong's turbocharged real-estate market, where Chinese have increasingly bought up the most expensive properties, their share of sales of new offerings fell to 37% of the market in the first quarter from 38% in last year's fourth quarter, according to Midland Holdings, a real-estate agency.  For sales of previously owned homes, 8.4% of the total in dollar terms were purchases by Chinese mainland buyers, falling from 15.6%.

China's Alarming Future Demographics

The following graph from the Economist of China's alarming future demographics is quite interesting. 

-Randy Lynch

Confucis and Mao: Age Old Ideologies in Present Day

Zen learned about Confucius in school and wanted to know more about the Confucius statue and the uproar around its appearance (and later removal!) in front of the newly renovated National Museum in Tiananmen Square.

Photo of the statue from AFP/Getty

The 31-foot bronze statue of the Chinese sage was erected near Tiananmen Square in January of this year - only to "disappear" 4 months later. The political class was first to take notice of the statue, a historical reminder of Chinese politicians relying heavily on symbolism and historical allegory to attack their rivals. The statue caused turmoil since Confucius faced the iconic portrait of Mao Zedong. The history of Mao and Confucius dates back to the Cultural Revolution against the “Four Olds” (old customs, old culture, old habits and old ideas).

One night in April the statue mysteriously disappeared and was later relocated with no explanation! It has caused much commotion in China - students of Confucius are outraged while Mao fans celebrated on the streets of Tiananmen Square on what is seen as victory for Mao.Given the government has recently embraced Confucius ideals, this incident is an interesting look into the intricacies and complexities of China's leadership