Beijing is one of the most polluted cities in China, according to official statistics.
Every time China hosts a major international event the government has to take extraordinary measures to clean up the air and avoid suffocating its prominent guests in a dangerous choking smog. On social media, residents ask why the government can clean up for foreigners but can't provide a healthy environment for ordinary citizens who live and work in the city.
Beijing ordered a special anti-smog campaign for China's coming out party at the 2008 Olympic Games and again for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit last week, closing factories and ordering traffic restrictions. But most of the time, the city's air is terrible. Beijing had 85 bad air days in 2012, equivalent to almost three whole months, when air pollution failed to meet even the government's fairly lax Grade II standard for airborne particles as well as sulfur and nitrogen compounds.