Pollution, sickness, and surveillance

The pollution in China is amazingly bad. Beijing is enveloped in a never ending blanket of smog, complete with yellow and gray skies and rain that turns one’s clothes black. This past weekend I went with a few of my class mates to 山海关 (Shan Hai Guan) to see 老龙头 (lao long tou, old dragon’s head) which is the beginning of the Great Wall. I expected at the very least a clean beach. This is what I got instead: trash all over the beach and water so polluted it is black. It was one of the most depressing things I’ve ever seen. Just think about the past 4.5 billion years that the earth has been around. For all but 200 years, this beach was as pristine as any other undisturbed beach. It took .000004% of its existence to pollute this part of the Pacific to a level that actually made the water black. China has got to get its shit together, this cannot stand. This post comes on the heels of China’s recent climate change announcement (sorry if you’re actually reading this from China, I know the BBC is blocked, but get a proxy like everyone else who values freedom of information) that it will continue to put its economy ahead of the environment. I am going to try to get some better pictures of the rampant pollution in China so maybe at least people will become aware of the impact buying Chinese goods has on the Earth. The next time you look around you and notice on how clean everything is, just realize that the technology to produce all the stuff you buy hasn’t gotten much cleaner, its just been moved to some place where you can’t see it. We are still engineering our own destruction, fueling it with gross consumerism and short-sighted economic, social, and environmental policies.

I’ve succumbed to the pollution and the unsanitary conditions in Beijing and have gotten sick like many of the other students. When I first arrived in Beijing, I was doing four laps around the complex where I live (about 4.7 miles), but now I am down to three laps because I’m so completely winded from the lack of clean air. The sanitation in China leaves much to be desired. I often see cooks hold their thumb to one nostril and blow, launching mucus to the ground beside them. They then continue on with their work without washing their hands. I have also seen noodles and other food dropped on the ground, only to be scooped up and thrown back into the dish. One can imagine how easy it is to get sick here, and I think I’ve done a hell of a job fighting it off until now.

So that last bit in the title…surveillance. What do I mean? Well, while I’ve been here in Beijing, I’ve lived as though I am under constant surveillance. I don’t know for sure that I am, but I think it is not out of the question. After all, I’m a freedom-loving, democracy-promoting, liberal American college student (which represents almost the complete opposite of China’s government ideology). I find it completely plausible that all of the international students are being surveilled. The US government has done it and, especially with the current administration, is probably still doing it. That doesn’t necessarily mean I have anything to fear, its just part of the cost of being a 老外 (laowai, foreigner). I find it particularly funny that in a nation where everyone watches me I can’t tell if I’m being watched (many people here are still fascinated and surprised when they see a white person so they stare incessantly). Twice when I’ve gone running here, I have had a car follow me. Upon realizing I had a car matching my speed right next to me on an otherwise empty part of the road, I changed course to run through and around some buildings. Both times, when I disappeared into the buildings, the car sped up and proceeded on its way. I don’t know if these two incidents were government related, or if some drivers were so fascinated to see a white boy running that they just had to slow down and watch. Frankly, both scenarios are equally as likely for me. What’s worse, thinking you’re being paranoid, or knowing you should be?