Official takes novel approach to smog crisis
Print Edition
In an effort to battle smog on two fronts, Li Chunyuan splits his life between two worlds — the real and the virtual.
The 52-year-old deputy head of the Environmental Protection Bureau of Langfang City in China’s smog-blanketed Hebei Province, spends each day racking his brain to come up with solutions to the city’s emissions.
In his recently published book “Smog Is Coming,” he touches on bureaucracy, its impact on air pollution, environmental officials’ dilemma and basic knowledge about smog through different stories.
With northern China shrouded in winter smog again, the novel, containing roughly 240,000 words, has gone viral.
After it was published last June, 9,000 copies were sold and 7,000 were given away.
Langfang, between Beijing and Tianjin, is among China’s 10 worst-hit cities by smog. It has been under huge pressure to cut emissions.
Li is among those who are most susceptible to smog, not only because he suffers from allergic rhinitis, but also owing to his role as a local environmental official. Every morning, the first thing he does is open his curtains to see the color of the sky, using his cellphone to the check air quality data.
Writing is his hobby. He said it is easier to tell people about environmental protection through literature than through boring lectures.
Starting in 2013, he spent three months writing his book. Most episodes were taken from real life including “media reports and examples given by other environmental officials,” he said.
In one story, he depicts a masked burglar breaking into people’s houses at night under cover of smog.
The story was based on his experience.
A radioactive device was stolen from a factory, but investigators could not see how the perpetrator did it because smog clouded the security camera.
“Some stories in the novel are a little bit dramatic, but if we lose the battle with smog, they will come true,” Li said.
Li, who joined the bureau in 2008, knows the dilemma facing environmental officials.
In another chapter, hero, Lu Zhengtian, an environment bureau head, quarrels with a county chief because the latter wants to use pollution funds to build a new government building.
“Look at the smog! How can we pursue political achievements at the cost of people’s health,” Lu says.
In the end, Lu becomes a figurehead, leaving the county behind.
Li Chunyuan said Lu’s experience is a true portrayal of some officials.
The campaign against smog needs enormous funds and manpower, both of which are in short supply and have affected environmental officials’ work.
They are also often blamed by the public for poor supervision when pollution scandals are exposed, or for inaction.
“Some officials would rather be demoted to other departments than be promoted in the environmental protection bureau,” Li said.
Being the head of a bureau is the end of their political careers, he said.
- 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.
