Singapore vs. Linfen 临汾
A little bit about pollution in China and my 2c on the topic
Did you know that there's a city in PR China named Linfen and it's almost as big as Singapore? If you didn't know, then now you know. But that's about it with the similarities. Because while Singapore has been given nicknames like the Garden city or the Green city...
...Linfen has been given the nickname the dirtiest city in the world (or on earth). I didn't know about Linfen before, but when they showed it on German TV today, I couldn't believe my eyes. Toxic smog every day all the time! How can people even breathe? The scariest part was the high rate of phisically and mentally disabled children. Linfen is in the centre of the Chinese coal industry and China is addicted to coal. I guess it won't get better too soon. Here are some shocking photos:I guess you Singaporeans can be proud of your green city ;)Of course there's much more to Linfen than just the pollution, you can browse some photos here. But for the sake of their own people, China has to do something, especially for the children, who didn't choose to live in such a horribly polluted city. I'm really not too sure, if global warming is caused by men and if all the predictions about 2100 will be true. Seems like global warming has become a new religion for some, I'm more of a sceptic. However, pollution is man made and we have to do (and we can do) something about that now.
Did you know about Linfen? How is pollution in your city?
Photo sources: [1 by MKL 2005][2, 3, 4, 6 by www.vbs.tv][5 by sheilaz413][7 by Wu Hong/EPA]
Links: [Linfen on Wikipedia][About Linfen, many photos and text in Chinese]
33 KAFKAESQUE COMMENTS:
I'm constantly seeing posts about how bad the pollution is getting in China, mostly on ChinaSMACK. I can't remember where it was but there was a post there about a place in China where dozens of people die from cancer a year, and it's a small area. It's just surrounded with factories.
As for Linfen, I feel bad for the people that have to live there. It's easy to say that someone should just move if they're not happy, but actually doing it is harder. It costs money to move and I have a feeling that most Chinese don't have that money to spare. So, these people are subjected to these horrible living conditions. The government should be issuing them all filtered respirators at birth so they don't have to breathe the contaminated air.
It's sad, but we're killing ourselves with all of this pollution.
By the way, that picture of Singapore brings back memories. I haven't been down there in a long time but on my first visit to Singapore my wife and I stood on that pedestrian overpass and took some photos together. I also bought a pair of running shoes in the mall there. That was about two years ago. They fell apart on me while I was in Kuala Lumpur on my last trip a few weeks ago.
December 9, 2009 2:05 AM
@Brad Farless: It was probably Linfen, because I heard people call it 'cancer city' or something like that. But the whole area is full of cities like this one. Linfen just happens to be the worst.
I also think some things need to be done to at least improve conditions, it's a city of 4 mil. people, I agree that migration is no solution either. The worst part is, Beijing doesn't care for the people there... That's sad.
Glad to see my photo brought back some fond memories to you. It's almost 5 years ago since I took that pic :)
December 9, 2009 2:14 AM
that pic of those Chinese wearing mask made me LOL. like no kidding.
I mean, the purpose of the mask is to filter what you're breathing in i.e through your nose & mouth. but just covering your mouth and not your nose with the mask makes it rather pointless to wear mask.
i dont know how people can breath in that heavily polluted air. i cant even breath past people smoking, let alone breathing the smoke every day.
it's such a shame that some part of the world is so polluted. thank god im not living there, but i still feel sad for those who are living there. :(
December 9, 2009 3:47 AM
@Ejean: Hehe, you're right. Although, how can you filter anything with that? Maybe it's just good for dust. And the one on the right does cover everything. Yes, I feel bad for them, too and feel very blessed that I never lived in such a place.
December 9, 2009 4:08 AM
I'm glad I live in europe, because at least the air is here clean enough, that my nose is not black from the inside!
but seriously, do you really expect China will do something about it? NO....
never heard of the city, but I'm not eager to go there after this post haha
loves
December 9, 2009 4:09 AM
@Shirley: Ah, you Europeans, always so proud :P I think we the Asians will also have green cities like in Europe, you'll see in 50 years :P
Seriously, I'm not very hopeful regarding China's efforts to tackle pollution, but shall see. Oh, and we can go to Linfen together, how about next spring, at the cherry blossom time? :)
December 9, 2009 4:14 AM
i'd never heard of Linfen but did know about the bad pollution problems in China, how people can live with such foul air is both astounding and very sad.
given the choice, i'd choose Singapore every time!
December 9, 2009 5:06 AM
@adamantixx: Yes, Singapore is a lovely place. I'm sure you'd like it :)
December 9, 2009 5:15 AM
I have no idea about pollution where I live...things seem fairly okay. I can breathe, but GOSH! those pics are nuts!! What horrible conditions to live in and those poor babies...
December 9, 2009 6:46 AM
The pollution in Linfen looks horrible! I agree, it is sad for the people who have to live there as well as their children who must grow up in it. Breathing that in daily is toxic!
Just my guess but I highly doubt China is willing to do anything about it anytime soon. Like most developing countries, China's too obsessed with industrialism to care about their environment yet. I said "yet" because I do think China will one day do something about it, once it's a well developed nation enough, but not anytime in our lifetimes.
And no, I didn't know anything about Linfen before your post. But it's a good thing you did because this entry's a nice reminder that we should all contribute in helping to keep clean our environment more. As for the pollution in my city, well I'm glad to say there is no pollution in my city (I live in the bay so the air's always clean). Unfortunately, I can't say the same for other Californian cities like LA:
http://zipline.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/air-pollution_cholesterol2.jpg
December 9, 2009 7:07 AM
wow...real hazzy
A smile from SJ =)
December 9, 2009 10:53 AM
wow i truly haven't heard of Linfen until I read this and it's ridiculously polluted! how can ppl stand living there?! they should at least think of future of their children :S
December 9, 2009 2:04 PM
Eww!Oh my gosh! I can't stand for it! I feel gross when I look at the pictures. I pity the citizens there. Like seriously from the bottom of my heart.:( How can they survive in such a dirty and polluted enviroment? Health alerts seem like very low. May God bless the citizens.
December 9, 2009 3:20 PM
In China, all kinds of pollution are really very serious!
As I googled, the cancer city should be at 江苏(Jiang Su province) 盐城市(Yan Cheng city) in 2009, because there are some chemistry factories and high-polluted industries. According to the research from some of the China's media, from 2002 to present, there were about 200 of village people died in cancer, most of them died in lung cancer and esophagus cancer.
In order to raise economic effects, China government encourages foreign capital to set up factories and industries on their land, and almost all of the foreign enterprises got an agreement, which allows them not to build up sewage treatment system. That is to say, the permitted foreign factories can discharge the polluted water and air directly to the environment, and won't be punished. Because China government allows them to do that and they can save a lot of cost to handle the pollutant.
China government won't care about their people's living, they only care China should be the strongest country in the world, for the sake of being strong, they will do everything they could and won't regard the cost.
I do feel sorry for those village people...
December 9, 2009 4:19 PM
@Steph: Yes, it's nuts :(
@Van: Yes, I think China will make same mistakes as Europe and USA in the past, growth and money is more important than the quality of life for all the people. Glad to see you live in a nice place, that's not so polluted. Thanks for the link.
@SJ: Yes.
@Sharon: It was a big surprise for me, too. Maybe that's what they are used to.
@Stephanie: Yea, I pity them, too :(
@LilyChen: Oh, thanks for googling, so happy to have such a smart Taiwanese friend ;) And I agree with you 102%, especially the last paragraph is excellent. You summed it up well, so there's nothing more for me to add. Thanks ;)
December 9, 2009 5:05 PM
@LilyChen I'm a firm believer in government being for the people, to improve the lives of citizens. I also don't like stupidity, which is what I see in China's government in regards to their policies about foreigners setting up factories in China. At some point China will become so polluted that it will be uninhabitable. China won't be very long if the country falls apart because no one can live in it. They should start thinking of the people. People are always the future of a country more than anything else.
December 9, 2009 5:28 PM
I think many cities in China are polluted. Even the air in KL is considered polluted too.
In this case, I don't think the Government will do much to improve the condition China is facing. The whole country is a factory.
December 9, 2009 10:07 PM
@Ai Shiang: You are right. But KL is not so bad like this, luckily.
December 9, 2009 10:38 PM
OH my that is lethal. I can't imagine in short years to come, my lungs and respiratory system will deteriorate how bad with such condition!
Citizens are as important as the development too. Should balance up!
December 10, 2009 1:04 AM
Gosh soooo much pollution >_< living like that everyday sounds just horrible.
i guess one good thing that comes from living on an isolated island is very very little pollution.
it's not singapore though. we're more like malaysia. i guess pollution wise noone can compare with singap
December 10, 2009 2:19 AM
@Vampie: Yes, needs to balance up.
@Manju: I have no idea about the pollution index in Singapore, but they get some bad air from Malaysia and Indonesia, plus they have one of the biggest ports, so ships keep coming and going. Your Mauritius may have better air than Singapore. But I'm not too sure. Before someone grills me, it's just a guess :)
December 10, 2009 2:26 AM
That's seriously bad. It's like M'sia when Indonesia starts burning their stupid crops causing smog for months in M'sia except Linfen is 24/7!
If I were to comment on the pollution in Kuala Lumpur, I'd say we're moderately polluted. The air is no where nearly as bad as Hongkong but it's not fantastic. The locals don't think twice about chucking things out of their car windows or wherever. The local govt is too busy fighting amongst their corrupted polluted selves to give a damn about the country and we have a yearly digusting smog that lasts for months caused by moronic farmers in Indonesia burning their crops.
So yeah.
December 10, 2009 6:10 AM
@Izso: Oh, yes, I heard about that Indonesian smog coming over. That's really unfortunate :(
December 10, 2009 6:21 AM
lol i meant pollution as in throwing stuff randomly on the streets i guess..in that respect singapore pwns everyone else.
on the overall pollution front, there's this Mauritius 'ile durable' (which means sustainable green island) project that's going on here. we are a model country for sustainable development in UNESCO, so the govt makes lots of efforts to keep it that way
December 10, 2009 6:21 AM
@Manju: That's littering, hehe. And I even saw littering in Singapore, but you need to go outside the centre. So who knows which country is worse. Ok, glad you came back and saved your country's reputation, hehe... You know, my blog is the main source for European tourists to get to know Mauritius. They nearly went to Singapore instead... pheeew, saved in last minute :)
December 10, 2009 6:25 AM
Oh dear :S
Ive only been to Sg once and I cant rememeber much coz I was around 7!! lol i only remember the hot weather! :(
But it seems like the pollution has been getting serious, eh? :S Yes they should def. do somthing about that :S We should think about the generations to come, they should be able to live in a sane world, just like the previous generations did.
December 10, 2009 11:47 AM
@Izso I was in Kuala Lumpur a few weeks ago and saw a good bit of the city. I agree that it's moderately polluted. Some areas around Chow Kit were horrible. A canopy was covered with garbage, some even in bags, that tenants had tossed out of their building windows. I'm just glad I didn't get hit by dirty diapers flying down!
That seemed to be the exception though. Most of KL is nice. It reminds me of the US.
I'm living in Singapore right now and that smog from Indonesia is bad here sometimes. I remember the first time I smelled it I was in a park and I thought the park was on fire. Later I read about it in the news.
@MKL @Manju Singapore is really good about keeping the place clean. MKL is right though. The further you get from the tourist areas, the more likely you are to see litter. In fact, there are some parts of Pasir Ris that look like sacks of trash have been emptied along the sides of the roads and under the buildings. There's a guy that cleans under and around the building I live in twice a day. He looks like he's from Myanmar.
December 10, 2009 12:10 PM
Brad : Singapore is waaaaaay cleaner and I personally like how everyone in Singapore is intimidated into keeping the country clean (the fine$ and all). If KL wasn't so corrupted, they could implement the same concept here and maybe clean this garbage of a place up. It was sparkling clean only when they had the Asean Games here. After that it just went down the drain.
Why would anyone want to go to Chow Kit I don't understand! Even as a local I steer clear of that tourist trap. There's nothing to see, the things are expensive and they're out to get your money. LOL
Yeah. As you can see I'm a "proud" M'sian.
Sigh.
December 10, 2009 1:06 PM
Btw MKL : I just voted twice on your latest post. I think that's a bug no? Next time I login again I'm gonna vote again and I'll make sure I vote the "Beautiful Women" option again! and again... and again... :D
December 10, 2009 1:08 PM
This was my second trip to KL so it was easy to pick out the places that were overcharging. I think we did ok. There really isn't much to see there though so not much to potentially lose money on.
December 10, 2009 4:50 PM
@JaiMie: Well said. :)
@Iszo: Hahaha.. Glad to have someone, who likes my posts about beautiful women. I'm sure there will be more coming up soon ;) Keep voting.
December 10, 2009 5:59 PM
Never heard of Linfen, but the pics are really smoggy.
Keeping my fingers crossed about the Climate summit in Copanhagen.
December 11, 2009 3:52 PM
@Shingo T: I think I learn a lot on your blog and now and then you learn something on mine ;)
December 11, 2009 7:11 PM
Post a Kafkaesque comment!