Abstract

I was born in the city of Beijing. As a child, I used to climb to the top of the highest building in our courtyard—it was in Xidan—and look in all four directions. I could often see as far as the Temple of Buddhist Virtue at the Summer Palace. From Xidan to the Summer Palace is at least 20 li [one li = 1/2 KM]. Some years ago I was living in the Changchunyuan section of Beijing University, which is only a few li from the Summer Palace, and eight out often times when I looked out of the window to try to see the Temple of Buddhist Virtue, I could not. The air in Beijing is always rather hazy, so that you cannot see clearly, and is slightly irritating to the throat; but when I was young, it was not like this. Now I have grown up and become a "greaser"—by which I mean that my shirt-collar is covered with oil. Living in Beijing City, I have to change my shirt almost every day, whereas when I was overseas, I could wear the same shirt for several days. There are many cities in the world that are notorious for their pollution—I have visited Milan, Los Angeles, London, etc., though not Mexico City—and as far as I can see, the situation in Beijing is bad even by their standards