[gatagato]

(Reuters) - Choking smog all but shut down one of northeastern China's largest cities on Monday, forcing schools to suspended classes, snarling traffic and closing the airport, in the country's first major air pollution crisis of the winter.

An index measuring PM2.5, or particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5), reached a reading of 1,000 in some parts of Harbin, the gritty capital of northeastern Heilongjiang province and home to some 11 million people.

A level above 300 is considered hazardous, while the World Health Organisation recommends a daily level of no more than 20.

The smog not only forced all primary and middle schools to suspend classes, but shut the airport and some public bus routes, the official Xinhua news agency reported, blaming the emergency on the first day of the heating being turned on in the city for winter. Visibility was reportedly reduced to 10 meters.

The smog is expected to continue for the next 24 hours.

Air quality in Chinese cities is of increasing concern to China's stability-obsessed leadership because it plays into popular resentment over political privilege and rising inequality in the world's second-largest economy.

Domestic media have run stories describing the expensive air purifiers government officials enjoy in their homes and offices, alongside reports of special organic farms so cadres need not risk suffering from recurring food safety scandals.

The government has announced plans over the years to tackle the pollution problem but has made little apparent progress.

Users of China's popular Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblogging site reacted with both anger and bitter sarcasm over Harbin's air pollution.

"After years of effort, the wise and hard-working people of Harbin have finally managed to skip both the middle-class society and the communist society stages, and have now entered a fairyland society!" wrote on user.

Other parts of northeastern China also experienced severe smog, including Tangshan, two hours east of Beijing, and Changchun, the capital of Jilin province which borders Heilongjiang.

Last week, Beijing city released a color-coded alert system for handling air pollution emergencies, to include the temporary halt of construction, factory production, outdoor barbeques and the setting off of fireworks.

Beijing suffered its own smog emergency last winter when the PM2.5 surpassed 900 on one particularly bad day in January.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...99K02Z20131021
http://world.time.com/2013/10/21/in-...-here-to-stay/

[ak74]

we need to curb our emissions here in Europe or we get stuffed for tax,, them little fuckers get to choke on ther own shit,, hope they die. (and all the fuckheads in brussels)

[ices]

As much as I hate the green tax bullshit, the only good to come out of green incentives and rules & regulations is clear air and clean water and fields.

China's waterways in or near any built up area is full of god knows what.

Personally I cannot wait for the next 2 decades to throw all sorts of problems the chinese way.

[invertigo]

That is absolutely fucking ridiculous. The Chinese government has turned that country into a joke, no wonder the people there are pissed.

[Spiffyfable]

That's like something you'd see from a Sci-fi movie. What are they going to do in 20 years when 80% of Chinas' population can barely function due to toxic air. Not to mention the huge spike in early deaths and more birth defects

[rapeWhistle]

This is what you're buying when you see 'Made in China' on the product.

[Zambini]

Some of those photos are actually of shenyang ( the skyscraper and Mao) a city I've traveled to many times.

With the Gobi desert contributing grit, the whole NE never gets very bright, must be like London during dickens time when coal was the primary fuel burned.

I saw belching smokestacks and smelled chemicals like that in the USA in the 70's and 80's, all we've done is export the jobs and pollution to Asia

[DRZrider]

you think its bad there now just wait till the population doubles babahahahaha fuck this worlds gonna be fucked for sure