This screenshot of real-time Beijing air quality readings as seen on the iPhone/iPad application China Air Pollution Index comes to us by way of CNN's Steven Jiang. On Monday, the Air Quality Index in the capital was 234, or "very unhealthy", according to the US Embassy, but a mere 96 ("good") according to China's Ministry of Environmental Protection. more ›

Yesterday, the Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center advised all the elderly, young, and infirm to remain indoors due to a wave of fog-fostered "light" air pollution that is sweeping the city. The "fog," ( also known by its real name, smog), blew in from central and eastern China and delayed and cancelled flights from Shanghai to destinations in the north. more ›

Shanghai will finally install PM2.5 air-quality monitoring equipment after more than two months since it pledged to do so. more ›

For those of you who still think you're safe outside Beijing, researchers reported yesterday that downtown Shanghai's fog vapor harbors cancer-causing chemicals. Researchers at Fudan University found our fog to contain carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) at levels ranging 0.03 micrograms to 6.67 micrograms per liter. more ›

Shanghai has pledged to join its fellow Chinese cities in raising city-wide air-quality measuring standards to the level of countries like the U.S. and Japan. Looks like all those damning pollution pieces, including a recent Nasa satellite image of China's smog, finally struck a nerve! more ›

Tired of unsuspectingly walking out the door on those days where China's atmosphere makes Jupiter's gaseous cloud layer look like a biosphere in Costa Rica? Now with new real-time air quality tracking twitters, sites, and apps (all city-specific), you can monitor the skies without holding your licked finger to the wind, and know exactly which days it might be better to stay in instead of going on that 10 km bike ride. more ›

No surprise here, except maybe the insane speed and degree with which smog swept back into the city following the closing of the Universiade in Shenzhen on Tuesday night. For ten days, the city experienced bright, clear blue skies with visibility up to 25 kilometers. By Thursday morning, that had plunged to 4-5 kilometers. So basically they went from Shire to Mordor in less than 48 hours. more ›

The Shanghai Ministry of Environmental Protection has released some information our allergies had long ago alerted us to: the air quality of the city for the last half year has been absolute crap. Still, amongst the 113 cities being monitored in China, we're actually not too bad off - we're at the "second level," which means "within standards" in the three-level system. None of the cities made it to level one (the cleanest). Beijing, of course, has air so crazybad it's in level three.
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Thanks, you jerks! Anybody who stayed in Shanghai over May holiday probably noticed the disgusting amount of crap in the air. I know my sinuses definitely did. Turns out it's all the North's fault: sandstorms blown in from the region not only gave half of us the worst seasonal allergies ever, it also set air pollution records! more ›

“Sandstorms can actually be called ‘coal dust storms’,” said Greenpeace Climate and Energy Campaigner Dr. Sun Qingwei. “Coal ash is a very tiny and light particle, easily picked up by wind. Winds traveling at 8 meters per second can already disperse coal ash up to 150,000 square kilometers from their origins in open-air dumping sites. And winds in a sandstorm are even stronger, with speeds of at least 25 meters per second - thus they can spread coal ash much farther. This means that even people who live far from thermal power plants in eastern and southern China must face the threat of coal pollution at their doorstep.”

A recent study of Mexico City's air pollution found that, because of all the gross stuff in the air, 55 middle class children there were developing brain lesions like those found in patients with dementia. Considering the well documented decline in air quality since Expo ended, what does this study mean for us here in Shanghai? more ›

Everyone probably noticed that on November 1, 2010, the skies hazed up almost immediately. In case anybody was wondering if it was just a weather fluke, here's proof it wasn't: The day after Expo ended, the amount of particulate matter in Shanghai's air more than doubled from the day before (more than tripling the amount from October 30, even). In fact, it was the third-worst day of 2010 (there were two days in March that were even more terrible). more ›

In a push to corner the electric car in the world's largest automobile market, Chinese senior officials have announced plans to put annual production of electric cars up to 1 million by 2020. According to the Minister of Science and Technology, Wan Gang, 70% of China's air pollution comes from automobile exhaust. Couple that with the fastest growing car market in the world (projections put new vehicle purchases this year at 16 million, over 40% growth over last year) and this proposed $17 billion effort by Beijing begins to make sense. more ›

• We were slightly surprised that, despite satellite photos, Shanghais air quality has apparently become slightly more breathable thanks to the Expo. Their secret? Agricultural lessons!
• It’s not just a bad time for commuters this Golden Holiday; at least 80 gay men were picked up by Beijing police after a raid on a ‘gay park’. It’s probably not worth complaining too loudly though, especially with the threat of ‘black jails’.
• Gates and Buffett have had their pro-philanthropist dinner, as have some others with a slightly more ‘normal’ bank balance.

As if traffic in Shanghai isn't bad enough, the upcoming national holiday will be sure to increase headaches for already wary commuters. Shanghai Daily reports that police are warning people about increased congestion and offering tips on alternative routes as thousands flock to the Expo to pay some sort of homage to the homeland. Thinking of walking instead? Well, if you can safely dodge the influx of drivers you'll still have to deal with the heavy layer of smog that will no doubt coat this city as 80,000 cars are expected on the Shanghai-Hangzhou Expressway. Let's just hope these next few days don't turn into the horrendous 15 day traffic jam that hit Beijing. more ›

While China's air may seem pretty terrible from satellite photos, apparently Shanghai has become a little more breathable thanks to the Expo. Says Shanghai Daily, "A total of 121 days, or 98.4 percent of the days between May and August, were marked as having excellent or good air quality." How did they manage it? By putting controls on "hay burning" - reducing the amount of land allowed to grow wheat and teaching farmers other ways to get rid of hay. Who would've thought? more ›

Well, okay, technically it is still air, but it's also a helluva lot of particulate matter. Canadian researchers Aaron van Donkelaar and Randall Martin at Dalhousie University compiled the first long-term map of PM2.5, fine particulate matter 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter. And China, unfortunately, has some of the most of it in the world. more ›

Adding yet another superlative to its ever growing "World's leading" list, China has now been declared the world's leading "space polluter." more ›

We are all familiar with the imposing skyline of Shanghai, it's been voted the 4th best in the world. But us residents are even more familiar with the thick smog that clings to the buildings, producing ghostly silhouettes. Despite previous reports that the smog levels in China were receding, the authorities have now reaffirmed that China’s air quality is worsening. more ›

One stereotype that's probably true about foreigners in China is that they're very complainy. But did you know Shanghai was actually studying their complainy-ness? A Shanghai Committee has found that the thing foreigners in Shanghai love to complain about the most is air quality. Said the survey, "Foreigners said flying dirt from construction sites is an important cause tarnishing local air quality and they long for a better and clearer sky after the event opens." Air quality even beat out other nuisances, like trash, lack of bilingual service, and internet speed. So the next time you're whining about your post nasal drip, you can know: your peers are doing the same exact thing! more ›

The annual Shanghai Environmental Bulletin was released yesterday and, continuing the slew of good news we've been hearing about the air quality in the city, it found that sulfur dioxide emissions, a major air pollutant, have been cut 15% in the last year. Despite the change, acid rain still made up almost 75% of Shanghai's rain events - a whopping number that officials still somehow spun into good news. After all, it's less than the 79.2% of acid rain events in 2008 and represents the first drop after five years of increases. Yay... Is this why my umbrellas always end up corroding over here? more ›

We knew we noticed more blue skies this year. Apparently a total of 334 days (91.5%) in Shanghai registered as having excellent or good air quality - the highest percentage since records began to be taken. Yes! We already found out we were better than Beijing, but it's nice to beat our own personal record. But what about all those "foggy" days? Well, perhaps a lot of it was just water vapor... or maybe small particulate matter, since China doesn't actually measure those even though they're more harmful. Eh. more ›

If you rolled out of bed this today clawing at your throat like a French legionnaire in the Sahara, you might not be crazy: it might be the air. This jaw-dropping photo from NASA (taken November 6) charts the progress of a temperature inversion (i.e. smog bank) that has been trapped on China's coast for the past week. more ›

• Looking for a good laugh this week? Check out ChopSchticks Comedy this Thursday and Friday. Headlined by Dennis Regan (appearances on The Tonight Show and David Letterman) and opening by Ryan Conner this show at Number 5 Bistro promises a hilarious night out. [City Weekend]
• Also appearing in Shanghai is New Zealand comedian Ray Bon Kan (yes, he's bffs with Flight of the Conchords). He'll be at Malones on Thursday at 8pm. Figures one of the few times Shanghai has a bunch of comedians play, they force you to choose between them. [Shanghai Talk]
• Pollution levels were (shockingly) higher than usual, according to recent reports. Apparently for the past 3 days we have experienced poorer air quality than any other time of the year and yet, oddly enough, it doesn't seem to be bothering people like pollution normally does. Perhaps we're all just used to it by now? [Shanghai Daily]

CNNGo went around Shanghai's bars and clubs recently in a confusing article about air quality. Confusing namely because they said they're testing for the best and worst, but only six bars/clubs make the story and, really, the only one that got lambasted was The Shelter, which had a ppm ([thousand] parts per million of criteria pollutants) of 350. Regular air quality in Shanghai is 230 and the U.S. FDA says 150 is in the high end of the safe zone. Because we needed an air quality meter to tell us that it hurts to breathe in The Shelter. Anyway, apparently one of the best places to go for a breath of fresh air is Sin. But while your lungs will feel clean, can all the ventilation there stop your soul from feeling dirty? more ›

Naturally, we think that Shanghai beats Beijing in the better city competition, but here's some extra reasons why. The UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) has found Shanghai's air quality to be far better than Beijing's, an auspicious ruling ahead of the Expo. The blue sky index shows that Beijing's levels of PM10 particles are twice as high as Shanghai's. more ›

Beijing, like many Chinese cities, has not what we would ever dare call excellent air. So for the past several months, the US embassy in Beijing has been posting hourly updates on their measurements of air quality in the 'Jing via Twitter feed. Set up out of concern for the health of the embassy staff, the reports range from "good" to "very unhealthy" based on the levels of airborne pollutants (particles) that can enter a person's body. more ›

• China to recruit 120,000 college graduates to join the army in 2009 [People's Daily Online] "The People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China will recruit more than 120,000 college graduates this year, a military source said here Sunday. According to a website run by the Ministry of Education to help college graduates find jobs, it is the first time the PLA has recruited college graduates on such a large scale, as the army seeks to improve its overall quality by drawing more talent and advancing its science and technology."
• Building of dams goes on despite halt order [SCMP] Construction had continued on two highly controversial hydro dams on the Yangtze River in Yunnan province , despite orders from the mainland's top environmental watchdog for the projects to be abandoned, state television reports. The two dams are being built by power giants China Huaneng Group and China Huadian Group, which together produced a fifth of the mainland's electricity last year.
• Peking Opera troupes take bold steps to be profitable [China Daily] "The China National Peking Opera Company, China's top operatic troupe, entrusted Beijing Guoyishengping Culture Development Co, Ltd to manage the theater and make it commercially viable one and a half years ago. Zhang Delin and his wife Yu, a famous BTV anchorwoman, own the Beijing Guoyishengping. That move marked a turnaround for the State-owned firm used to government funding to run its operations. An opera ticket at the theater is priced between 2,080 yuan to 50 yuan."