Interesting piece by Thomas Boswell in Sunday’s Washington Post, bemoaning the horrific quality of Chinese air, a topic I’ve discussed in this space here, here, and here. “Beneath the Surface, Something in the Air” even notes that on “Some days, like Thursday of this past week, you can literally see the air.”

The most interesting bit is the observation that China totalitarianism allows the regime to take short-term steps to create a kind of Potemkin air quality for the duration of the Olympic Games. Jay Nordlinger noted in his column yesterday some of the steps that were dictated from on high in an effort to make Beijing’s skies blue by 8/8/08. Jay will be providing invaluable reporting that will continue throughout the Games.

Below, a long excerpt from Boswell’s piece:

If there is a metaphor for this ambiguous double-edged Olympics, it is Beijing’s polluted, throat-burning air. High-handed environmental indifference is China’s trademark; hyper-growth, at this stage of China’s economic life, is essential, so the argument goes. Later, there’ll be time to grow a conscience. And the devil take any biased foreigner who diagrees.Some days, like Thursday of this past week, you can literally see the air. It looks grey. It tastes metallic, seasoned with — is that sulfur? You can’t see far or clearly. The sun is a rumor. In the slightest breeze, you can feel the air pecking at your eyes, coating your throat. No day in Los Angeles that I’ve ever experienced approached it.
Yet that day’s pollution reading was only 69. Beijing says less than 100 is okay. So a beach day hereabouts! However, by the Opening Ceremonies, the world may witness what a state-controlled country can do, even to its air. As we landed, eight days fore the Games, the roads near Beijing at noon were as deserted as 5 a.m. on a Sunday morning in Kansas. All those filthy cars? Gone. Once in the city, only half the city’s autos — divided by odd-even license plate numbers – were allowed to drive.
Do such restrictions on cars and factories actually work in such a short time frame? You wouldn’t think so. But on our second day here, you could see the sky. It didn’t hurt to breathe — much. And by Saturday, we might as well have awakened on a Caribbean island. Warm, cloudlessly sunny. Let the Games begin?
This is the China conundrum. With luck and the right wind patterns, the world may think Beijing is a health spa, inhabited by helpful smiling citizens, many of whom appear affluent, even rich.