Even Santa Can't Escape Toxic Smog in China
Global Voices, December 26, 2015 3:04 GMT
https://globalvoices.org/2015/12/26/even-santa-cant-escape-toxic-smog-in-china/?utm_source=Global+Voices&utm_campaign=d98dee10f2-Dec+28_2015_Daily_Digest_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_633e82444a-d98dee10f2-290270321
During Christmas as toxic smog spread from the northern provinces to central
China, the country's netizens expressed concern that air pollution will
become the new "normal" as official state media continues to twist a
positive angle out of the bad news.
On December 23 10 cities in China issued red alerts on air pollution, which
meant air quality reached hazardous levels and people were advised to stay
indoors and schools were advised to stop classes. Thirty cities including
Beijing reached "severe pollution" levels and 20 others including Shanghai
had "heavy pollution" levels.
People living in mainland China could not enjoy Christmas amidst the toxic
smog attack. Bill Bishop reposted on Twitter a humorous mini-story
circulating on Chinese social media about the fate of Santa Claus in China:
Dark china humor.Santa lost in smog,hides in snow,packages stolen,reindeer
taken by chengguan,sleigh confiscated pic.twitter.com/0WfKlECOpI
-- Bill Bishop (@niubi) December 25, 2015
Here is the full text and translation of Chinese dark humor on the smog that
ruined Christmas:
* Translation
"Important notice: Santa Claus fell from the sky when traveling from Denmark
to China because the smog was too heavy here. No one dared to help him and
he was left lying on the snow. The gifts in his bag were all robbed and his
reindeers were confiscated by the city management patrols [or Cheng-guan].
His sleigh does not have a vehicle license and was thus confiscated by the
traffic police. This year Christmas is cancelled, please inform others!!!"
Heavy industry and coal consumptions during winter filled the air with
PM2.5, a tiny particle that can penetrate deep into the lungs causing all
kinds of deadly diseases and failure of vital organs. On December 25,
Christmas day, Beijing was blanket with a "white" color, caused by toxic
smog. The US embassy's data showed that the counts of PM2.5 peaked at 620
micrograms per cubic metre. A healthy exposure level is 25 micrograms.
Though red and yellow alerts were all over the country during Christmas,
state media managed to find a positive angle by highlighting how people are
still continuing their normal activities despite the smog. For example on 22
December, the state-run news wire Xinhua News posted this tweet on Twitter:
"Nothing can stop jog-loving Chinese! Not even #smog! Joggers unfazed by
heavy haze in NE China's Shenyang. Good Luck." pic.twitter.com/vTO7a7uIGS
-- China Xinhua News (@XHNews) December 23, 2015
Such positive reports make people worried if the government is determined to
fight the smog, or the problem will become a "new normal", which is also a
new political term being used for the Chinese government's latest economic
policy for addressing the slowing down of the country's economic growth. For
example, Ge We Yao from Shanghai International Fashion Federation commented
on Weibo:
* Translation
"Shanghai has "heavy pollution" level for three days, now [smog] has become
a "new normal". The [pollution] is so widely spread in such a prolonged
period. This should be considered a natural disaster, how come no one from
the government comments on the situation, [no one] takes advantage of the
centralized power of the government to implement new policies that combat
the smog and [no one] prioritize the lives of tens of million people and
manifests the advantage of socialism?"
In early March, Chai Jing's documentary shed some light on the root causes
of smog, including the lax enforcement of environmental statutes on heavy
industries and vehicle fuels. The documentary has gone viral and resonated
among netizens but the government seems to put more effort into creating the
APEC and military parade blue sky in Beijing rather than introducing
policies for the public to see a blue sky.
