During a recent trip to Beijing, I was fascinated by “ghost buildings” in Beijing and I waited till Halloween to talk about it. As far as I know, I am the only one who refers to them as ghosts. They are not unique to China but the high level of pollution in some Chinese cities has become quite notable even in the Chinese press.
A ghost building is one that cannot be seen during the day, because of the high degree of opaqueness of the air in the city. The pollutants from factories and cars, buses and trucks often combine with fog to produce a concoction called smog, an unhealthy combination for one’s lungs. I noticed smokestacks both short and tall ones belching into the air aloft smoke and steam and heaven knows what else of various shades of grey. (more…)