By uncanny coincidence, the record-breaking pollution that has enveloped Beijing comes almost exactly 60 years after London?s Great Smog of 1952, the worst case of air pollution in British history.
The comparison will not be lost in China. Many Chinese will remember Mao-era propaganda films which often showed London?s smogs as evidence of the failure of capitalism. Britain responded to the enviromental crisis with a clean-up. It?s time for China to do the same.
On Tuesday, Beijing authorities were reporting that the city?s pollution levels were easing after the record levels of the previous three days.
Every resident knows it is only a matter of time before the smog returns, given the right (or rather wrong) weather conditions. But there are clear signs that officials are finally admitting to the seriousness of the challenge ? the first step, perhaps, towards doing something about it.
They recognise that the illness and discomfort caused by pollution irritates an increasingly restless population. The official China Daily newspaper on Monday said the city was becoming better known for ?Beijing Cough? than for Peking Duck or Peking Opera.
As Jamil Anderlini reported for the FT, pressure to generate economic growth has driven officials to play down or ignore pollution. So even though China has tough enviromental laws, it has poor enviromental standards. Environmentalist Dai Qing told Bloomberg: ?For so many years we all tried to do something and the authorities gave us no reply. But once people have no water, no air, no land ? something will happen. It?s very dangerous.?
Chinese and international experts say one of the biggest problems the government faces is the willingness of officials at all levels to sacrifice environmental concerns for the overriding imperative of economic growth.
A lack of accountability in the system, the weakness of the agencies tasked with tackling the issue and the ease with which data collection and presentation is manipulated all compound the problem.
But the precedent of advanced economies, including Japan as well as Europe and the US, suggests that sooner or later, public concern over pollution will force the authorities to act.
So it was with the Great Smog. At the time, Londoners did not see it as much different to previous ?pea-soupers? or indeed those that came subsequently. It lasted just four days, December 5-9.
But public opinion changed when government medical reports estimated that 4,000 people had died prematurely as a result of the Great Smog and a further 100,000 had fallen ill. Later research showed that even this was a big understatement ? around 12,000 actually died. (These figures are from Wikipedia, where they are well documented by academic research).
The Great Smog was followed by a succession of laws, which culminated in the 1956 Clean Air Act. Factories were ordered to reduce smoke emissions and householders were encouraged to switch from coal to cleaner-burning coke or to gas.
There was to be one more big smog, in 1962. But slowly, modern practices took hold, particularly with the spread of gas-fired central heating from the late 1960s.
China should take this story to heart. Even the worst enviromental challenges can be tackled. But even with political will and sufficient resources it takes decades to create acceptable living conditions.
So China has no time to waste. According to Bloomberg, Greenpeace and Peking University?s School of Public Health last month published a study showing exposure to PM2.5 (large air-born particles at the core of smog-type pollution) contributed to a combined 8,572 premature deaths in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi?an in 2012.
These are just four of the 16 Chinese cities that are among the world?s most polluted in World Bank rankings.
Related reading:
Pollution cloaks China, FT slide show
Hazardous smog blankets Beijing FT
Source: http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/01/15/beijing-london-smog-in-two-cities/
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