Walking through Beijing's Tiananmen Square last week, a German family of five surrounded me, all wearing large face masks and sunglasses. They weren't robbing me, just asking me to take their photo. When I yelled "Say 'cheese,' " the dad joked: "We are smiling under here."
Only China's pollution bubble is no laughing matter, and tourists tell the story. Thanks to extreme air pollution, foreign arrivals plunged by roughly 50 percent in the first three-quarters of the year.
Beijing could see even fewer visitors to the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and the famous square dominated by a painting of Mao Zedong thanks to images of acrid smog that have been beaming around the globe.