For all the stories one hears about smog and pollution, this scene is one that wouldn’t be expected. Yet, this is exactly as it looks – blue skies do exist in China. But to be honest, not that often. Usually when the clouds are absent, the sky is a very pale blue because of the haze and the smog. Sometimes you can almost taste the pollution.
This is what it looked like while we walked to class yesterday morning. The sun was making a valiant attempt at showing it was still there. From what our students tell us, it is different in rural China, away from the factory cities like Changzhou.
At night, the air quality seems to get worse, not better. From what local people tell us, this is because many factories use darkness to hide breaking the rules about emissions. With darkness they can shut off the equipment that filters the emissions and thus reduce operating costs. With daylight, the filters are turned back on and all looks as it should.
Pollution aside, I have to say that my allergies are non-existent. Strange.
