Crazy Bad

As you might be aware, Beijing is sometimes beset by "fog." You know, the kind that arrives without any humidity in the air and has more to do with the good fung shui of the city (surrounded by mountains as it is) and industry than it does with the dew point.

You might be further aware that the U.S. embassy tracks the pollution index in the city through a Twitter feed (@BeijingAir). (In response to Chinese protests, the U.S. government has encouraged China to track and publish the pollution index in American cities.) Most ex-pats follow the Twitter feed, especially on days when the air develops a color and flavor.

Two and a half years ago, when I first started following the feed, something weird happened. Usually, the index ratings are very... academic: "healthy," "unsafe for sensitive groups," "unhealthy," "hazardous." But this day, when I checked the feed, and the number was above 500, the description was "crazy bad."

Within a day, the feed was back to its regular, academic self where anything over 500 was just "beyond index" — the scale stops at 500, you see, because those nutty scientists at the EPA never figured anyone would be living in such a nuclear winter atmosphere as all this. And I don't have any friends at the embassy, so I have no idea what happened for those few short days. I like to think an intern had a little bit of fun reprogramming the messages before heading back to the States that September, but it could have been anything: a hacker, a bored IT guy... OK, those are probably the only two other options.

So today, as the sky grew darker at noon and the air took on a definite industrial flavor, I started checking the Twitter feed. The index was over 700. (Incidentally, I have never seen it that high. So far, the highest today was 755 at 8:00 pm, right about when I was getting in a cab to head back to my apartment from a dinner of delicious hot pot with my friends.)

Now, I don't just follow the BeijingAir feed onTwitter. I also follow the Economist, and the AP, and, of course, NPR. Well, and my favorite NPR personalities, like everyone's favorite China correspondent, Louisa Lim. And there were her Tweets, pointing out just how "crazy bad" the air was.

Yes. Crazy bad.

Obviously, she was here two and a half years ago, as well. Just a little in-joke between all us Beijingren.

Bu shi meiguoren. Wo shi Beijingren.


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Location:Beijing, China