Latest comments posted about Slideshow: air pollution in Beijing on ChinaDialogue en-gb http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/2213-Slideshow-air-pollution-in-Beijing http://staging.chinadialogue.net/images/cdlogo.gif http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/2213-Slideshow-air-pollution-in-Beijing These photos are not taken in summer Beijing, maybe after a spring black storm. Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:33:28 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7743 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7743 Come on, what kind of creature living in Beijing could survive this kind of dust? I think the scientists should do research on this, maybe they are not human beings? Or with some special gene? My dear Sean Gallagher, please try your best to report with common sense if you have! Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:00:30 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7737 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7737 What these photos feature are some neglected corners of Beijing. Very familiar sights in Beijing indeed. The scenes can be seen under many elevated overpasses in Beijing. I think it is a good thing that the photographer turned his lens toward those unattended, dusty vehicles. It is a problem we should pay attention to. Perhaps the photographer just intended to remind us of this issue. The way he did it is very dramatic. And he has made his intention clear. As a graduate, I once participated in an experiment in which we gauged the atmospheric particulates of Beijing. After we finished the test, the filter paper we used turned black. Each of us was amazed that we could breathe in such air in big draughts and didn’t fall sick. It is a long way to go for the environmental protection of Beijing. (Comment translated by Yang bin) Mon, 28 Jul 2008 05:23:56 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7713 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7713 most of these pics are from dust that has been blown into the beijing plain for thousands of year replenishing the soil. There is pollution but in a different category. Too easy too shoot such pics and missing the point in for example, the avergae waste water output per resident in beijing. Or the average kg of packaging that is used by one of its 16 milj residents. If you put Beijing's environmental past and future in perspective I would say that the Chinese in some ways are way ahead of environmental thinking. Rural China might be a good starting point to reflect China in a better way. Every large nation must feed its citizens and these images are not showing foreign eyes a rather misguided picture of the middle kingdom. If you want to make money as a foreign photographer here you can only survive with showing the negative side, like this gentleman did. At the time we write there many positive going on and maybe try to show that. First of all you have to be sort of fluent in the language to get a better understanding. Sun, 27 Jul 2008 09:53:17 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7710 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7710 It says clearly that scrap vehicles are used in the pictures. Anyway, there are only a handful of good-weather days in the city. Things are not looking hopeful. (translated by Yuan Xiao) Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:17:26 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7711 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7711 The condition in the photos obviously results from cars standing around a long time! Go to a garage and you can find a similar situation there. (This comment was translated by Zheng Shen.) Sat, 26 Jul 2008 12:01:12 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7708 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7708 A lot of the criticism here is fully justified. In addition, for an article that purports to be about air pollution the subject matter (dust) in the photos is pretty limited. (Is dust pollution really the only form of air pollution in Beijing?) The monotonous nature of the photos can only confirm a couple of points: that the photographer either knows very little about the environment, that the author is a China-basher, or he simply got lazy. (It takes very little skill, if any, to produce a series of shots like this.) Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:28:47 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7709 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7709 After adding the editor’s commentary, we all understand, my thanks go to the editor. However I think the title should be changed from “Air pollution in Beijing” to “Beijing’s environmental sanitation.” The former is not as appropriate and the latter is a little better. --Translated by Michelle Deeter Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:31:04 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7695 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7695 To Comment No.10, no one said the situation in those photos is typical and can be seen everywhere in Beijing. Using documentary photos with strong visual impact to express the concern is also a way to deliver the message. We in China should be the ones who are concerned about and work hard on the problems. The thought at the first sight of these photos should be how we can improve the condition, rather than take it as some malicious attack. Plus the facts in the photos do exist and the author's explanation is quite clear. (This comment was translated by Zheng Shen.) Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:16:47 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7693 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7693 It's true that most vehicles aren't as dusty as those showed in the photos. But under a climate here in Beijing, how much water does it need to keep a car decent and clean? (This translation was translated by Zheng Shen.) Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:09:22 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7690 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2213#comment-7690