Tag Archives: Chinese New Year

Polluting in the new year!

First, of course, happy new year to all those greeting the year of the dragon this week. I, for one, am suitably stuffed.

Second, via Angel Hsu, this image depicting what is most likely a huge cloud of noxious firecracker emissions as Beijing celebrated the new year (which, being lunar, coincided with the new moon). Beijing has promised to provide real-time data on PM-2.5 (particle matter under 2.5 microns), thought to be a category of pollution that acutely threatens human health.

The U.S. embassy in Beijing has for years offered live data from a sensor in its compound, and the addition of the Chinese data is welcomed. Just look at that spike!

Click for full size.

(To see for yourself, visit http://zx.bjmemc.com.cn/ and click on the PM2.5 tab.)

Remembering the Year of the Rat (photos)

Life passed into the Year of the Ox yesterday with little fanfare at Transpacifica headquarters. There were memories, however, of an explosive night in Beijing a year ago as we rang in the Year of the Rat. As a commemoration, I offer these photographs—from a walk by the half-done CCTV tower to a midnight walk across the Caochangdi district of Beijing through a sea of spent explosives.

Happy New Year, everyone! (I’m not going there like everybody else.)

CCTV Tower Progress, Feb. 2008

No Fireworks on Construction Site

Drum and Bell Towers from Frozen Qianhai

Three Shadows Fireworks

After the fireworks, Caochangdi, Beijing