Joseph Christian

Beijing's Jekyll and Hyde fight for better air quality

By Joseph Christian (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-11-30 08:17

In Robert Louis Stevenson's classic The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the good Dr Jekyll fights with the evil inside him, which turns into his split personality, Mr Hyde.

Through the pages of the book, the battle wages on. Jekyll has his victories but in the end Hyde overwhelms him and the goodness of Jekyll is lost forever.

It might seem strange to you but it reminds me of Beijing's battle with pollution.

Two Fridays ago, the sound of my alarm clock jolted me awake. As I reached to turn it off I noticed very little light was making its way through the crack in my curtains. There was no way that it could have been 8 o'clock already, it was too dark; but it was.

I pushed open the curtains to greet the day but only found myself face-to-face with Beijing's own version of Mr Hyde; its infamous "mist". As it swirled about, a slight hint of sulfur tingled in my nostrils. That day, it was really thick and unfortunately I had already made plans that would force me to run around Beijing till well into the evening.

When I finally got back home, I sat down in my chair and took a deep breath and I noticed that my chest was tight and sore. It was like I had just done 500 pushups and smoked a pack of cigarettes. I spent the next 20 minutes coughing up gunk and blowing the darkened contents of my nose into a tissue.

The next day, I learned that the official air quality in Beijing that day was 312. In case you don't know, anything over 250 is considered not just dangerous but hazardous to your health. No wonder my chest hurt, it had been ravaged by Mr Hyde all day.

The next day, on Sunday, I woke and, with a bit of apprehension, moved to open the curtains. To my delight, it was Jekyll who greeted me in the form of a blue, sunny and windy day.

It seems to me that Jekyll and Hyde are in an immense struggle over the skies of Beijing. I wonder who will win.

When I first moved to Beijing, a Chinese friend gave me a little bit of advice when he quipped: "It's only a good day when you can see the mountains."

I haven't been seeing the mountains too much recently.

Toward the end of "Mr Hyde's Friday" I found myself standing next to the Bird's Nest. Surrounded by dozens of tourists, we all coughed and stared up through the haze at the imposing symbol of China's Olympic success. Beijing went through a great deal to clean up its air quality for the Olympics. It shut down factories, partially banned cars and planted millions of trees.

While these measures didn't eliminate pollution, they certainly helped. But ever since the end of the Olympics air quality in Beijing has taken a turn for the worse.

Factories in areas surrounding Beijing have been reopened and thousands of cars are being added to Beijing's already crowded streets every day. Barring a windy or rainy day, it seems that Hyde, with all the damage he brings, is what the residents of Beijing have to look forward to.

Beijing officials know that there is a problem and while they are taking positive steps the question is: Are they doing enough?

As Ma Jun, the director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs in Beijing, recently said: "We can't just expect wind, snow or rain to wipe out the pollution when it gets bad. The city must take pollution more seriously and implement preventive measures."

I understand that development is good for China, but in Beijing's case it's just feeding the beast that lives inside Mr Hyde.

Stevenson's book ends rather sadly, but Beijing's story doesn't have to be that way. Hyde can be controlled but it will take more than a weakened potion; it will take tough rules and hard choices - but it needs to be done.