Home
» City specials
» Hangzhou
A job not to be sniffed at
By Zhang Yu and Pan Yuefei |
March 3, 2011, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SMELL judges are one of the latest efforts being used to control environmental quality in Hangzhou. Zhang Yu and Pan Yuefei meet one such odor official using his nose to neutralize bad stinks in the city.
In the movie "Scent of a Woman," the character played by Al Pacino could tell a woman's height and the color of her hair and eyes simply by smelling her perfume. In Hangzhou, there is a group of people who also rely on their sense of smell to make judgements. But unlike Pacino's character who uses smell to determine a woman's attributes, this group use smell to judge the quality of the environment, and are known as smell judges.
Smells are very complex. Most "smell detectors" are gas analyzers looking for specific gases in the air, so the requirement for smell experts has arisen.
There are more than 30 smell judges working in the Hangzhou Environmental Monitoring Center under the Hangzhou Environmental Protection Bureau, and Jiang Zhiwei is one of them.
When hearing about Jiang's job, some people can't help staring at his nose out of curiosity.
"It's definitely not a magic nose," Jiang usually responds with a smile. "It's just like yours and theirs. The only difference is that our noses work as a standard. Simply speaking, our job is to test out whether smells in the city comply with national regulation."
Once a complaint about an unpleasant smell is received, smell judges will test whether the odor concentration exceeds the national standard. If it exceeds the standard, the environmental protection authority will punish the company responsible for the air pollution.
Because smell judges can greatly affect the prospect of some projects and businesses with their nasal-based judgments, the local administration didn't select its judging team from members of the public, but hired existing staff from the Environmental Protection Bureau to work part-time to ensure fairness and objectivity.
Jiang was one of the first eight smell judges after their position was given legal effect last August.
Jiang also said that despite what most people might think, to be a smell judge, his/her nose does not have to be very special. In fact, a smell judge's nose should be very common.
"In the test, you should try to feel what a common citizen feels. So noses that are either too sensitive or too insensitive are not good for the job," Jiang explained.
A smell test involves a process of elimination. It begins with air samples being taken. These samples are then diluted with a proportion of fresh air and put into one of three test bags, the other two filled with fresh air only. Then, six smell judges will try to detect which bag contains the sample by rounds. In each round, those who make the wrong judgment are knocked out and the rest start the next round. As the test goes on, the sample in the bag continues to be diluted as it's exposed to the air. The rounds go on until all six judges are unable to smell the odor.
Then, they work out the density of the sample with professional formulas. "We must be very decisive," Jiang said, "because in most cases, after the dilution the sample is very hard to smell. It's just your instinct in a moment. Any hesitation may make you miss the best judging moment.
"Each test will last for 60 to 90 minutes, so if you have continuously worked for one hour, you must leave the lab for about five minutes to breathe some fresh air and let your nose take a break."
Although this jobs sounds quite difficult, Jiang and the other smell judges don't get extra pay for it because they are only part-time. "I chose this job because I'm a firm environmental protector, and I'm proud of it," Jiang said.
There are a lot of restrictions placed on smell judges - no smoking, no drinking, no cosmetics, no deep-fried or spicy food and no colds, especially on the test day. For many people, such limitations could lead to a miserable life. But fortunately, according to Jiang, being a smell judge is not a lifetime profession.
"Most smell judges will retire in their mid 40s," Jiang said. In fact, most of Jiang's colleagues belong to the generation born during or after the 1980s. It's a job for young noses.
Jiang's girlfriend still has no idea about his stink-gauging sideline. "Every time I just tell her that I have to work overtime. I'm afraid that she'll worry about my health if she knows."
(Translated by Pan Zheng)
In the movie "Scent of a Woman," the character played by Al Pacino could tell a woman's height and the color of her hair and eyes simply by smelling her perfume. In Hangzhou, there is a group of people who also rely on their sense of smell to make judgements. But unlike Pacino's character who uses smell to determine a woman's attributes, this group use smell to judge the quality of the environment, and are known as smell judges.
Smells are very complex. Most "smell detectors" are gas analyzers looking for specific gases in the air, so the requirement for smell experts has arisen.
There are more than 30 smell judges working in the Hangzhou Environmental Monitoring Center under the Hangzhou Environmental Protection Bureau, and Jiang Zhiwei is one of them.
When hearing about Jiang's job, some people can't help staring at his nose out of curiosity.
"It's definitely not a magic nose," Jiang usually responds with a smile. "It's just like yours and theirs. The only difference is that our noses work as a standard. Simply speaking, our job is to test out whether smells in the city comply with national regulation."
Once a complaint about an unpleasant smell is received, smell judges will test whether the odor concentration exceeds the national standard. If it exceeds the standard, the environmental protection authority will punish the company responsible for the air pollution.
Because smell judges can greatly affect the prospect of some projects and businesses with their nasal-based judgments, the local administration didn't select its judging team from members of the public, but hired existing staff from the Environmental Protection Bureau to work part-time to ensure fairness and objectivity.
Jiang was one of the first eight smell judges after their position was given legal effect last August.
Jiang also said that despite what most people might think, to be a smell judge, his/her nose does not have to be very special. In fact, a smell judge's nose should be very common.
"In the test, you should try to feel what a common citizen feels. So noses that are either too sensitive or too insensitive are not good for the job," Jiang explained.
A smell test involves a process of elimination. It begins with air samples being taken. These samples are then diluted with a proportion of fresh air and put into one of three test bags, the other two filled with fresh air only. Then, six smell judges will try to detect which bag contains the sample by rounds. In each round, those who make the wrong judgment are knocked out and the rest start the next round. As the test goes on, the sample in the bag continues to be diluted as it's exposed to the air. The rounds go on until all six judges are unable to smell the odor.
Then, they work out the density of the sample with professional formulas. "We must be very decisive," Jiang said, "because in most cases, after the dilution the sample is very hard to smell. It's just your instinct in a moment. Any hesitation may make you miss the best judging moment.
"Each test will last for 60 to 90 minutes, so if you have continuously worked for one hour, you must leave the lab for about five minutes to breathe some fresh air and let your nose take a break."
Although this jobs sounds quite difficult, Jiang and the other smell judges don't get extra pay for it because they are only part-time. "I chose this job because I'm a firm environmental protector, and I'm proud of it," Jiang said.
There are a lot of restrictions placed on smell judges - no smoking, no drinking, no cosmetics, no deep-fried or spicy food and no colds, especially on the test day. For many people, such limitations could lead to a miserable life. But fortunately, according to Jiang, being a smell judge is not a lifetime profession.
"Most smell judges will retire in their mid 40s," Jiang said. In fact, most of Jiang's colleagues belong to the generation born during or after the 1980s. It's a job for young noses.
Jiang's girlfriend still has no idea about his stink-gauging sideline. "Every time I just tell her that I have to work overtime. I'm afraid that she'll worry about my health if she knows."
(Translated by Pan Zheng)
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
