Twenty bags of vacuum-packed mountain air were shipped to residents who’ve been choking on smog in Zhengzhou, Henan province in a promotional campaign to boost tourism at nearby Laojun Mountain, with some participants reportedly squeezing the last remnants of fresh air from bags like the end of a toothpaste container to get some of those sweet, untainted O2 molecules.
Global Times reports:
Locals lined up for a lungful from one of the 20 masks hooked up to pillow-sized bags filled with certified air from the mountain area on Saturday.
The campaign also aimed to raise public awareness of environmental protection, according to Xu Lei, manager of the Laojun Mountain scenic area, located 300 kilometers from Zhengzhou.
Locals couldn’t get enough of the pollution-free air, with some heavy breathers [w]ringing the bags to squeeze out every last air molecule.
The city-dwellers scrambled to get a dose of the mountain air as breathing time from the disposable masks was limited to a few minutes for each person.
“I felt my baby move right when I breathed in,” an expectant mother surnamed Sun was quoted as saying.
This isn’t the first, and probably won’t be the last, tourism stunt from a region trying to cash in on its precious pristine air. Guizhou earlier this month announced that it would begin manufacturing canned fresh air to be sold as souvenirs for residents of smog-ridden cities trying to get a fix.
