Cough joins duck and opera ...
Source: Xinhua |
January 23, 2013, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FOR lawmakers and political advisers at the ongoing annual sessions in China's capital, the city's new association with the "Beijing cough" is far less welcome than its fame for roast duck and opera.
Some of them say the label, used to mock Beijing's poor air quality, is insulting, but most acknowledge that the term depicts reality and is prompting efforts to fight pollution.
With the first session of the 14th Beijing People's Congress opening yesterday and the first session of the city political advisory body having opened on Monday, the "Beijing cough" has become a hot topic.
"Teachers and students from our academy need to take deep and quick breaths while practicing traditional operas, which makes them inhale much more pollutants than ordinary people," said Zhou Long, deputy head of the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts, and also a political advisor of the capital.
The term "Beijing cough" has been in use since as early as the 1990s among foreigners, many of whom experienced chronic respiratory problems when they arrived in Beijing due to the city's dry and polluted air. But it did not become well-known until recently, when more health problems directly attributable to the current air pollution were reported.
As an increasing number of residents are suffering from coughing, sneezing or tight chests amid the city's heavy recent smog, netizens have started labeling the phenomenon the "Beijing cough."
With the debate raging, the Beijing municipal government has vowed to strengthen efforts to curb air pollution.
Measures include taking 180,000 old vehicles off the road, promoting clean-energy cars and closing some 450 heavily polluting plants, according to the work report by acting mayor Wang Anshun at yesterday's opening session.
Deputies to the congress will further discuss air pollution control during the session, which lasts until next Monday and will elect a new mayor.
Beijing has witnessed persistent smog since early this month. Air quality indexes were off the charts for seven days. The smog was dispersed by a cold front with wind last week, but soon returned.
Andrew McCormick, an American computer game designer who has worked in Beijing for three years, has made plans to leave the city.
McCormick, a 35-year-old newly-wed who is planning to have a baby, said:
"I don't want my children to grow up in the polluted environment." He said he did not expect the government to change the situation soon, as battling air pollution was a long-term task.
Internet users have mocked the smog as "the dirtiest air in history" in Beijing as well as other cities shrouded by haze.
The Beijing Emergency Medical Center received 535 patients with respiratory diseases from January 7 to 14 - 54 percent more than the same period last year.
Some of them say the label, used to mock Beijing's poor air quality, is insulting, but most acknowledge that the term depicts reality and is prompting efforts to fight pollution.
With the first session of the 14th Beijing People's Congress opening yesterday and the first session of the city political advisory body having opened on Monday, the "Beijing cough" has become a hot topic.
"Teachers and students from our academy need to take deep and quick breaths while practicing traditional operas, which makes them inhale much more pollutants than ordinary people," said Zhou Long, deputy head of the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts, and also a political advisor of the capital.
The term "Beijing cough" has been in use since as early as the 1990s among foreigners, many of whom experienced chronic respiratory problems when they arrived in Beijing due to the city's dry and polluted air. But it did not become well-known until recently, when more health problems directly attributable to the current air pollution were reported.
As an increasing number of residents are suffering from coughing, sneezing or tight chests amid the city's heavy recent smog, netizens have started labeling the phenomenon the "Beijing cough."
With the debate raging, the Beijing municipal government has vowed to strengthen efforts to curb air pollution.
Measures include taking 180,000 old vehicles off the road, promoting clean-energy cars and closing some 450 heavily polluting plants, according to the work report by acting mayor Wang Anshun at yesterday's opening session.
Deputies to the congress will further discuss air pollution control during the session, which lasts until next Monday and will elect a new mayor.
Beijing has witnessed persistent smog since early this month. Air quality indexes were off the charts for seven days. The smog was dispersed by a cold front with wind last week, but soon returned.
Andrew McCormick, an American computer game designer who has worked in Beijing for three years, has made plans to leave the city.
McCormick, a 35-year-old newly-wed who is planning to have a baby, said:
"I don't want my children to grow up in the polluted environment." He said he did not expect the government to change the situation soon, as battling air pollution was a long-term task.
Internet users have mocked the smog as "the dirtiest air in history" in Beijing as well as other cities shrouded by haze.
The Beijing Emergency Medical Center received 535 patients with respiratory diseases from January 7 to 14 - 54 percent more than the same period last year.
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