Chinese girls bike through Tianamen Square in Beijing.

“Stay inside!” When the air quality index is between 301 and 500, as it has been in Beijing the past days, it means conditions are hazardous. The US Embassy tracks the level of pollution in Beijing on an hourly basis and posts results on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/beijingair). Though Twitter is one of many sites blocked in China, foreigners can check it from their office computers sometimes.

When air becomes hazardous to breath, you don’t need numbers to tell you. So how do you know? Your eyes burn, your throat hurts, and your chest aches.

Many people are addicted to Beijing and I get it. It’s a vibrant, dynamic city with a lot to offer both locals and foreigners alike. Still, when I hear people – parents – say that they want to stay here as long as possible, I always take pause. The effects of pollution are cumulative, but one doesn’t have to search too hard to learn about what the long term effects of breathing dangerous air might be. China is the future, but is it a short term future in term of life expectation?

Yesterday, as we drove for a couple of hours to see a few sites, I surveyed the landscape around me, the brownish haze made it feel as if I were viewing the world through a sepia filter. Not my kind of paradise….

I feel for all the children raised in this kind of environment. Their little lungs must be suffering so much…. what will be their life in a few years when they suffer from severe asthma?

Gonna leave the lounge and board my plane back to Tokyo. See you!