Red Alerts for Smog

By+Yuan+Yuan

The Chinese Government has set a stringent standard for the quality of the masks being sold to combat the effects of pollution in Beijing on January 18. The news comes against the backdrop of the unprecedented amount of heavy haze that had shrouded the Chinese capital for more than 20 days.

Beijing had activated the red alert—the highest warning level of a four-tier system against airborne pollution—twice since December 2015. The red alert is designed to be issued once the concentration of PM 2.5， or particles with less than 2.5 microns in diameter that are hazardous to health， is forecast to surpass a designated limit for three consecutive days.

Two alerts

On December 8， Beijing issued its first ever red alert. Industrial production was subsequently suspended， and vehicle usage was curbed by a system that alternated road access to odd and even license plates. Kindergartens， elementary schools and middle schools were all closed for the sake of their students health.

“We finally have the first red alert，” Qu Xueping， a 34-year-old resident in Beijing told Beijing Review. “In the past， when the pollution was very bad， I really didnt want to send my daughter to school.”

The first alert lasted for three days and was lifted on December 10. Schools were suspended， but didnt require the students to make up for the missed classes.

“It was a headache for parents such as myself， as we had to go to work and couldnt look after the kids at home，” Qu said.

The teachers assigned homework and made a self-study schedule for the students to complete at home， but Qu could only turn to her daughters grandparents for help. Just as Qus life was getting back on track， a second alert came along on December 19. This time， it lasted for four days， throughout a weekend， until December 22.

“If this becomes the normal state of affairs in the future， we will have to find an adequate place to take care of our child， as both my husband and I need to work，” Qu said.

What puzzled Qu the most was that the pollution was not so bad during the second red alert， but once the alert got lifted， the smog got worse.

“Why couldnt the alert be issued several days later？” Qu wondered. “Dont we have forecasts for pollution？”

Wang Bin， head of the Emergency Department of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau， told Xinhua News Agency that the threshold for red alerts in Beijing had been lowered in March 2015， making them easier to issue the alerts.

“I didnt feel that much of a difference，”said Zhu Qun， a 45-year-old Beijing resident working at a state-owned company， in an interview with Beijing Review. “If the threshold was lowered， why didnt we announce the third alert during days after December 22， which were even more polluted than the four days during the second alert？”

Yu Jianhua， General Engineer of Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau， answered that question while addressing netizens online on January 26.

“Since the accuracy rate of our forecast on pollution is still limited， it is hard to issue and lift the alert on the exact right dates，” said Yu.“There were still some setbacks in issuing the two alerts. For example， the notice period for the two alerts was quite short.”

“The first alarm could have been sounded earlier. If it had been issued faster， it would have been more effective in helping the residents，” claimed the Ministry of Environmental Protection in a review of the two red alerts on January 7.

The Ministry told the Beijing Municipal Government that it could do better the next time it declared a smog alert.

Smog consumption

A senior student from Peking University， surnamed Qiu， complained that the red alerts didnt take college students into consideration.

“We are also students and we dont want to be exposed to the pollution，” Qiu told Beijing Review. “But we were excluded from the list.”

On December 24， Qiu received a box of masks as a Christmas gift from a classmate. “I thought it was a joke when I saw the box full of masks，” Qiu said. “But my roommate had also received a dozen masks， sent to the dormitory by her mother. Masks have become necessities in our daily lives.”

Qius roommate， Shi， used to be a sports fan and would run around the university campus every day， but during the days in which the pollution reached its peak， she could only stay indoors and pray for the wind to come to remove the smog.

Nonetheless， Shi claimed that， “staying indoors is not that effective， as the heavy and long-lingering smog permeates everything.”

This is also a concern for the parents of primary and middle school students.

Chen Lili， who lives in Beijing and is the mother of a first-grader， has raised over 10，000 yuan （$1，500） among the parents of her daughters classmates to buy two air-purifiers to place in the students classrooms， but states that the effect has not been ideal.

“Since the classroom door opens and closes frequently， the purifier cant work as well as it should，” Chen told Beijing Review. “But if we keep the students indoors for a long time， the concentration of CO2 will increase， which is also not good for their health.”

Xian Lianping， Director of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission and local political advisor， told Xinhua News Agency that special research committees had been set up to study the effect of the smog on schools.

“[The committees] are making specific plans to place air purifiers in existing school facilities and are setting up standards for future school air-purifying facilities，” Xian said. “The period for winter and summer holidays will be adjusted to allow students to attend school on clear days， and stay at home on smoggy days.”

According to a report on smog consumption published by Alibabas online shopping platform on December 20， since Beijing issued its first-ever red alert in early December， searches on the shopping platform for masks and air purifiers have surged 148.4 percent and 56.5 percent month on month， resulting in many vendors running out of stock. The sales volume of masks on the online shopping platform was 9.3 times that of normal times.

Zhong Xiaofei， a Beijing resident， told Beijing Review that she had bought an air purifier at the price of 6，500 yuan （$985） on November 11， but saw the price rocket to 9，500 yuan （$1，440） as the smog season kicked in. “The price of the air purifiers goes up and down all the time with the changes in the air condition，” Zhong said.

The latest business confidence survey by the European Chamber of Commerce showed that staff turnover rates were relatively high for multinationals based in China， and that the air pollution has been cited as the top obstacle in luring and retaining talents among such companies.

International market research company J.D. Power has installed new clean air systems at its Beijing and Shanghai offices， an executive of the company told Xinhua. The auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and British advertising firm WPP Plc are doing the same on their premises.

Shanghai resident Yao Hui decided to leave a Chinese furniture company where she had worked for four months after finding its office had the highest levels of pollutants on a measurement device she used.

“If a company is willing to reduce its indoor pollution， it shows that it is responsible， and therefore has good potential for growth，” Yao told Xinhua News Agency.