Official Chinese Report: Beijing "Barely Suitable" For Living Thanks To Air Pollution

[hatrack]

(Reuters) - Severe pollution in Beijing has made the Chinese capital "barely suitable" for living, according to an official Chinese report, as the world's second-largest economy tries to reduce often hazardous levels of smog caused by decades of rapid growth.

Pollution is a rising concern for China's stability-obsessed leaders, keen to douse potential unrest as affluent city dwellers turn against a growth-at-all-costs economic model that has tainted much of the country's air, water and soil.

The report, by the Beijing-based Social Science Academic Press and the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, ranked the Chinese capital second worst out of 40 global cities for its environmental conditions, official media reported on Thursday.

China's smog has brought some Chinese cities to a near standstill, caused flight delays and forced schools to shut.

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/13/us-china-pollution-idUSBREA1C02D20140213

[get the red out]

1. I have been to China

Five years ago, it is an amazing place, but the air pollution was almost unbelievable. I never imagined anything like it. I can still remember the smell. So sad for the Chinese people and the world.