China Cleaned Up Beijing’s Smog For Its Military Parade, But Of Course It Didn’t Last

It ’s no conjunction that the China ’s cap city had clear , sunny skies for the nation ’s immense military parade last week , or that Beijing ’s dense smogginess recall the very next day . The Chinese authorities take uttermost measures to guarantee open skies for the its display , but it took less than 24 minute for air pollution to storm up again afterward .

Last calendar month , Chinese official set a goal : reduce air befoulment in Beijing by 40 % to trim defilement in neighboring urban center by 30 % — not as a retentive - condition environmental plan , mind you , but as a short - term move to ensure clear skies for a military parade . China contain amassive military paradeon Sept. 4 , grade the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War Two , and officials wanted clean-cut skies for the event .

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So they part shut the capital urban center down in the calendar week lead up to the parade , starting around Aug. 20 . China shut down between 10,000 and 12,000 mill in Beijing and neighboring metropolis . That included nearly every brand mill in Beijing and the nearby cities of Hebei and Tianjin , which , according to the Guardian , accounted for about 6.6 million heaps of lose production . 40,000 construction sites in and around Beijing also close down for the duration .

China took four out of five government vehicles in Beijing off the road , and only half of the five million private elevator car registered in Beijing were allow for to beat back on any fall in day . Drivers were assign alternating day , depending on whether they had even - numbered or odd - numbered permit plate .

“Parade Blue” Skies

The drastic measures really worked . Beijing is one of the smoggiest cities in the humankind , but for fifteen days , culminate in the sidereal day of the parade — Thursday , Sept. 3 — Beijing ’s skies shed light on .

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Its air quality improved significantly , based onthe air quality index number ( AQI ) , a banner used to describe the amount of air defilement in an area . The scale runs from 0 to 500 , divided into six people of colour - coded category . On parade mean solar day , the U.S. embassy in Beijing report an AQI of about 17 , which is well within the “ green ” image of 0 to 50 that denotes the healthiest , least polluted air travel on the AQI weighing machine .

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topical anesthetic nickname the phenomenon of sunny skies “ parade blue . ” Beijing residents seem to have enjoyed the clear skies while they lasted , but the tongue - in - cheek phrase shows that they understood incisively why they were briefly treated to improved skyline view and strangely breathable air . CNN describe on Fridaythat Chinese authorisation might have taken offense to the idiomatic expression and censored it on Chinese societal media site like Weibo , since they could find only three posts using the phrase on Friday .

Residents of Beijing are evidently used to this sort of matter , however . Another wry phrase , “ APEC blue sky , ” has been part of Beijing vernacular since November 2014 . Officials enacted exchangeable measures when Beijing hosted the two week long Asia - Pacific Economic Cooperation ( APEC ) summit , shut factories and qualify drive . Just like the parade preparations , it work — temporarily . And locals quickly coined a phrase . CNN ’s Shen LU and Wilfred Chan write ,

“ As a rueful joke , Chinese cyberspace exploiter begin using ‘ APEC blue air ’ as a phrasal idiom to describe something beautiful that disappears quickly . For model , a quip about shortly - lived relationships : ‘ He ’s not really into you . It ’s APEC blue ! ’ ”

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Temporary Reprieve

At midnight on Friday , the restrictions lifted . Traffic flooded the streets , factories reopen , and it did n’t take long for the smog to riposte .

“ The tune timber power started to deteriorate last night and stood at about 150 throughout Friday morning,”reported the South China Morning Poston Friday , Sept. 4 , less than 24 time of day after the bountiful parade . At 11:00 AM on Friday , the U.S. embassy reported an AQI of 158 , and in some parts of the metropolis it climbed past 160 . That ’s within the “ red ” zone of 151 to 200 on the AQI scale , which the EPA enunciate means that “ Everyone may begin to experience some adverse health effect , and members of the sensitive groups may see more serious essence . ”

As of 11 AM local time on Sunday cockcrow , theaverage AQI in Beijing is 53 , though it was as high as 74 in some parts of the city and as scummy as 34 in others . That ’s credibly what Beijing residents can await on most days , at least until the Taiwanese politics cleans up for the next handsome event .

Photo: Jae C. Hong