The big news in Beijing these days is the smog.  It’s not just Beijing.  All of northeast China is suffering.  It’s been really high for several days.  All the television news is discussing it.  It’s page one in the newspapers.  It’s really thick, and visibility is bad.  There is a slight smoky smell of “burning tires”.  The weather people are saying a cold front is coming in on Wednesday night and will blow it all away.

Hearing all the discussion from the Chinese viewpoint, while living with it, in Beijing, is pretty interesting.  There is a lot of talk about the health issues, versus the economic issues involved with shutting down factories, etc.  I’m enjoying observing the internal debate.  I witnessed a scene I wished I could have captured with a camera.  A Chinese woman wearing a smog mask was walking down the street on a heavy smog day.  She had the mask pulled down around her chin, and was smoking a cigarette.  Classic!

There is also a lot of discussion about the East Asian issues between Japan, Korea, North Korea, the Phillipines, and China.  There are lots of prickly issues, and lots of heated talk.  Everyone is sniping at each other, and there seems to be purposeful antagonism between all the parties involved.  Some of the BHSFIC teachers traveled through Tokyo during the school break, and couldn’t get Chinese currency exchanged in the Tokyo Airport.