How does it feel to breath air in the city of Beijing in the past 2 years?

Question

How does it feel to breath air in the city of Beijing in the past 2 years?

Answer 1

living in the cramped central city of beijing a mask is also a part of daily living because the pollution of factories and smog of vehicles if you look everywhere you will imagine yourself looking in a thick fog of pollutants XD that's why people of beijing have respiratory problems

Answer 2

My eyes and throat burned when breathing in Taiwan 8 years ago.   Probably the same.

Answer 3

I was in Beijing in December 2007.  The air was brown in color and had the mildest sent of sulfur.  It smells sort of like that scent from a match a split second after you light it.  The air dries and irritates your nose and if your are really sensitive (like me), your eyes will start to water.  Oh and the pollution in the air will end up on your skin.  I washed my face on a clean white towel and it was yellow with particulate matter from the air.  

For the olympics Beijing was planning to clear up their air and aim for something like 240 days out of the year when you could actually see the sky.  

I'm sure Beijing is a beautiful city but holy c**p the air is filthy.  And I live in LA!!!

Answer 4

Pretty bad:

U.S. Olympic Officials Call Beijing Pollution Levels 'Awful'

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/International/s...

"With six months to go before the Olympic Games, Beijing's air pollution on most days is off the charts, and in August, high humidity only exacerbates the problem. "

According to the official Web site of the Olympic Games, Zhou Shengxian, head of the State Environmental Protection Administration, said the government will close several "coal-fired power plants, as well as steel mills and cement plants, to cut emissions of the acid rain-causing pollutant."

Scientists Study Beijing's "Olympic" Air Pollution

http://aip.org/isns/reports/2008/013.htm...

Scientists from the United States are joining the Chinese researchers in studying the impact of the vehicle restrictions on pollution. Beginning in June, V. Ramanathan, an atmospheric and climate scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and his team will use four unmanned aircraft equipped with instruments launched from South Korea's Cheju Island to measure the air pollution downwind of Beijing.

Although Ramanathan’s team will be able to compare the changes in air pollution levels related to the restrictions, they are specifically looking at atmospheric brown cloud (ABC), a phenomenon made up of all pollutants that can affect rainfall, cloud formation, and air temperatures. Because of the long, dry seasons, ABC is more persistent in Asia and India, but can also be found in Los Angeles.

Answer 5

I've never been there but i read somewhere that the air is so polluted that for the olympics they had to shut down highways and factories to clear the sky.