smog

OK, so it's a rubbish photo- but I didn't want to stray outside to take anything more interesting, and I wanted to make a point. We came back from Hong Kong today, and didn't see the runway until we'd landed on it, so bad was the pollution. It's measured using an index- the API- which starts at 0 and goes to something like 500. A reading of 300 and above means the air quality is dangerous- severely polluted- and on the way home from the airport we were at 470. This is the view from my lounge- usually you can see other buildings on the horizon, but not today- and was taken at around 2.30pm, by which time it was so dark that we had the lights on and I was tricked into thinking it was time to make dinner. I'll post the same view on a clear day so you can see the difference.

I love Beijing- I really do- but this is a reason to leave if ever there was one. And Beijing is nowhere near the most polluted city in China. I fear for my lungs...