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Cities Near Beijing Close Factories For Better Olympic Air

nytimes.com — With Beijing struggling to clear polluted skies before the Olympics in August, the nearby industrial port of Tianjin has ordered 40 factories to suspend some operations for two months as part of a broader effort to improve air quality during the Games, state news media reported.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 8, 2008

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  • bowermr, on 07/07/2008, -1/+19A classic case of too little, too late.
  • outz, on 07/08/2008, -1/+12if you don't already work for the fear spreading mass media, you should apply.
  • Surferess, on 07/07/2008, -0/+10If it is this bad now, can you imagine how bad it will be in 10 years? *cough*
  • bicycleman, on 07/08/2008, -1/+9Who ever thought of putting the olympics in a trash dump should be flogged. I guess you see the value of free trade...that pollution would be your pollution if those factories existed here.
  • Khast, on 07/08/2008, -0/+5Well, it could also do the reverse, and encourage production in the US...giving needed jobs.... naw they'll just wait until the factories reopen.
  • Khast, on 07/08/2008, -0/+5Wow...nice disguise...putting on a great show to let us know how well your cities are doing environmentally...
  • quomen, on 07/08/2008, -0/+4A classic case of me not caring when you heard it.
  • blankoboy, on 07/08/2008, -0/+4Imagine 1000 years from now! OMFG!?
  • soupr, on 07/08/2008, -0/+3They built high walls around the shanty town areas

    Great work
  • EtherGnat, on 07/08/2008, -1/+4Oh no! The shortage of lead-laced toys could last WEEKS!
  • artofficial, on 07/08/2008, -0/+3A classic case of a Russian Doll situation.
  • lennybird, on 07/08/2008, -0/+3A classic case of me not caring about your not caring.
  • WikiEasy, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2Been there. Done that. Pollution is still so bad it's hard to breath without wanting to cough.

    It's strange when you look up and never see clouds. It's stranger when you realize there are no birds anywhere in sight.
  • artofficial, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2Da Duh Duh Duhhhh...
  • everfresh59, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2Now get them to stop using cars for 10 days too, and have scientists analyze the air after, and use that to take down the Oil industry.....
  • inactive, on 07/08/2008, -1/+3All those young girls, what are they gonna do now?
  • Raian, on 07/08/2008, -1/+3Duh...
  • whitecranberry, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2When the pool is full of piss you cant just stop pissing and hope it suddenly is better. Cause filtered piss is still piss.
  • tonicboy, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2Actually, you'd be surprised. My friend lives in Shenzen and says that, on the day after a long holiday weekend, the air quality is markedly improved because factories are closed all weekend. Much of the pollution in the air is not endemic but created daily by hundreds of factories. Cut off the source and the pollution goes away. Of course, this is still only a temporary solution and does nothing to change the fact that China is a cesspool of pollution and filth.
  • inactive, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2Beijing is a ***** and those tourist sites are unimpressive. You can see temples and ***** all over Japan and even Korea. You can eat bugs in Cambodia. You can see the embalmed corpses of dead commies in Hanoi. Beijing offers nothing good that you can't find in other parts of Asia and the air is filthy and the people are *****.
  • inactive, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2No, people in Beijing act like ***** because that's what they are. I have not been treated with such rudeness and inhospitability in any other place except Hong Kong. And I even speak a smattering of Madarin.

    The Great Wall is cool, but not worth all the hassle of having to spend a rotten couple of days in China to see it. Prambanan and Borobudur are just as awe inspiring and Indonesians are way more chill and easygoing than chinamen.
  • handheldchimp, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1It's good to know that they are actually attempting to do something about the smog/pollution problems. However, they should start thinking about doing this a little more often.
  • brundlefly76, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1Good thing its summer so you don't have 15m people burning coal in their homes.
  • ShrimpCrackers, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1Funny, sure China has the great wall. But I'm not sure how much a tourism object is a huge wall that was built by the enslaved enemies of multiple Chinese kingdoms. Did you know about 3 slaves died building every meter of that thing. Plus it didn't even work well against the Mongolians. Not something I'd be proud about.
  • geor, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1All these people do not get it. China has no intention to change their long term behaviors about pollution. We strangle ourselves in the US to trip over ever whimsical environmental agenda, but it is OK for China to keep on polluting. Keep buying their stuff in the stores and they will keep polluting.
  • DoctaLivingston, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1They already do, silver nitrate, or some *****, forces it to rain. Whatever though just more pollutants up in the air.
  • inactive, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1when is the Chinese govt gonna use the secret weapon, their weather modifier.
  • yuanzhoulu, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1no it won't. first of all 40 factories near beijing is nothing. second, the US imports from other countries as well. finally it will create jobs in the US.
  • indiancompanion, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1its worse...a lot worse
  • jorisb, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1Tell that to the astronauts on the space station
  • yacks, on 07/08/2008, -2/+2A classic case of I heard this earlier today on Digg. :)
  • whorunbartertwn, on 07/08/2008, -0/+0Your close. I believe they have made it to where even/odd numbered licensed plates can be driven on certain days to reduce pollution.
  • inactive, on 07/08/2008, -1/+1Eventually they're going to start cleaning up. Japan went through a similar situation. The same goes for the USA and Europe. They're taking steps already, though their dirty industry is still growing insanely fast at the moment.
  • Wubbawucky, on 07/08/2008, -1/+1I think the more serious question is: Are the workers being compensated for lost wages?
  • whorunbartertwn, on 07/08/2008, -0/+0Ahhh I see. The wall isn't interesting/worth seeing because it was built by slaves. I'll be sure to cancel the Pyramids, Angkor Wat, Taj Mahal etc. all the list of objects in the world worthy of a visit due to the morality issues you bring up.

    Furthermore those Chinese should be ashamed of what their ancestors did 2500 years ago to get that wall built. Knock it down man.
  • whorunbartertwn, on 07/12/2008, -0/+0Hmm I've generally had people act very polite to me in China, so I suspect it's an ***** begets ***** deal with you.

    Think about it... what are the odds someone who claims all of the people in a city of 17 million are ***** is in fact himself the problem? Pretty good.
  • replaysMike, on 07/08/2008, -1/+1Irony is great.
  • whorunbartertwn, on 07/08/2008, -1/+0*****. You must have additional health issues if you couldn't breathe in Beijing without wanting to cough, or you read an exaggeration and are making it into your own experience.

    Your birds claim is complete ***** as well, as there are plenty of flocks of birds in the city and the parks almost all have waterfowl. There are in fact pamphlets for bird watching tours in Beijing.

    I won't bother debunking your "never see clouds" claim, anyone can do a google image search of Beijing and see clouds.
  • whorunbartertwn, on 07/08/2008, -1/+0Actually you're spot on about the dead commie in Hanoi. Ho is a way better Weekend At Bernie's job than in China.

    I didn't know they had the Great Wall in Japan and Korea. Wall must be longer than I thought.

    Perhaps the people being ***** is a reflection of reacting to you?
  • CVL4317, on 07/08/2008, -2/+1They should have prepared for this long time ago, but meh....
  • tim620, on 07/07/2008, -7/+6Factories closing in China means fewer goods in the US, which will put an even bigger strain on the US economy in the next few months.
  • whorunbartertwn, on 07/08/2008, -2/+0You should visit Beijing. You'd get two immediate benefits:

    1. You'd have a great visit to an exciting city with a rich and interesting history. Go see Mao. Walk on the Great Wall. Fly a kite on Tiananmen square. Play tourist in the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and Temple of Heaven. Take pictures of yourself eating bugs on a stick. Go shopping on Wangfujing Dajie. Sample the Beijing Kaoya.

    2. You wouldn't sound so much like a clueless blowhard talking about that which you obviously know nothing about.
  • dejay181, on 07/08/2008, -4/+2well walmart is f**ked
  • da_bradler, on 07/08/2008, -5/+1well at least the pollution isn't as bad as it is in LA
  • gaapgod, on 07/08/2008, -6/+1We changed our state flag here in GA because of the Olympics, but that doesn't mean we got rid of racism. See: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/16813732/detail.html

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