Zombie Weather

I think that people have a very specific view of Asian countries (and especially over crowded ones like Japan and China)--busy, crazy, no space, and dirty. Before coming over here, one of the things I always thought of--the vision I had in my mind--when thinking of people from Asia is their over use of face masks. At anime conventions, they are a fashion statement. In Oswego, it is because you are sick and you don't want to get your roommate or classmates sick. But the real reason why you see photos of Chinese men and women with half their faces covered is because of pollution. [I'm still not fully convinced the mask really does anything except make everyone look like crazed murderers.]

With the weather changing and the coal factories in China starting up, it's no surprise that the air quality has dropped (pretty obviously). I will admit--I have never seen weather like this. I was raised and lived in a small town and I went to school in an even smaller town. I've never been a big city girl and I have only ever heard tales of the smoggy haze that hangs low over big cities like Beijing and Los Angeles.

This is your average sunset and pollution combination in Hangzhou:

Now of course, Hangzhou is nothing like Shanghai or Beijing where the air quality is awful almost all the time (except the few days that I went to visit last year, apparently), but lately Hangzhou began to match the hazy smog of the other bigger cities in China.

I started to notice a big change on Friday (12/6) when I tried to look out at the sunset. Usually, I have a pretty spectacular view of the sun as it sets behind the buildings in the distance since my window faces west. The smog was pretty thick--making it difficult to see the sun and the ground below.

This was maybe 4 o'clock in the afternoon...

Usually when the weather gets like this, we say that we just need a nice rainy day (or rather snow, since Christmas is less than three weeks away now). But after a fun filled night with the gents of Cangqian (I have gotten into the habit of calling us The Big Four in my mind), the weather was still no better. Walking through the town to the campus, it was difficult to see our apartment building in the distance (a problem that I don't think we have ever had).

I suppose it can only get worse before it gets better...

This morning, I felt as though I was looking out at a white out blizzard (for a moment, I even got excited).

It was like a horror movie (you know that awesome one--"The Mist")!! You could not see anything around you... It was a bit suffocating if I let myself think about it.

As the smog has gotten thicker and thicker and the weather worse and worse, Adam has begun to call it "Zombie Weather" and my love for the undead ghouls makes me love the name so I stole it for this blog title. You know when you are walking through the mist/fog/smog/pollution and you can't see anything around you (seriously, you can't) and all of a sudden something appears in front of you (be it boyfriend or ghoul hungry for my brains). I only wished I had had my rifle or Molotov cocktails to protect me against any zombies I came into contact with trying to find the bus stop!

 

There are different levels of air quality (or air pollution if you live in China)... I admit, this is something that I never worried about or even really knew anything about. Different countries have different standards of what is good or dangerous and, of course, China's view is very different from America. I read that in Shanghai, the Air Pollution Index was about 475 (out of 500) this last week. I think Los Angeles is the most polluted/smoggy city in the US (correct me if I am wrong--again, I've never put much thought behind air quality/pollution indexes). I've been told that L.A. schools will close if the pollution levels reach (I think) 100-150. A decent, so-so day in China is probably around 200... and these last few days have been well into the 400s... and life has continued on as though nothing is different (other than the sea of face masks around you).

Thank you Wikipedia

I had been warned that a blue sky is certainly something to behold in China... and I believe it now!! I can only hope that Nepal and Malaysia will offer me some fresh air...

Until Next Time,

Amanda

PS- I finally got to hear Adam play the drums... I think he made the English Association proud.