First Thoughts on Beijing

The first things that I'm noticing in Beijing is how much it has developed and how much more polluted it has become. It is pretty obvious that 10% yearly GDP growth for the last 15 years has made everyone better off economically. There are more people with cars, apartments, handbags, cellphones, computers, and more disposable income in general. The last time I was here was in 2003 and only in a few years Beijing seems like a much more developed city. Everything here is very much about the 2008 summer olympics, and it seems to be a source of great national pride and much government spending.

Unfortunately this great development story has come with costs; Beijing is very polluted. It is polluted on a scale that us in the West would not comprehend without experiencing it first hand. This morning I made a comment to my uncle about how it was overcast, his response was: "thats pollution not clouds." The pollution here is so bad that it is difficult to see the sun and the skies look gray on a "clear" day. The Chinese government has instituted a pollution cleanup program in Beijing by moving many of the factories from Beijing to the western regions and switching from coal power plants to petroleum power plants... apparently this hasn't done too much to alleviate the problem.

Below: polluted skies on a clear day, and smoke stacks next to an apartment complex.