Little escape from Beijing's smog

Many Chinese people are beginning to grumble about air quality, but unlike the expatriates they have little choice but to live with it.

To those of us who live in Beijing, it's not news that the Olympic host city is horribly polluted. We live in a pall of smog that can press down on us for days on end. It is a fine day when I open the curtains in the morning and can see the sky. The city is transformed. But there are days when I open the curtains and the skyscraper that I know is there, just a few hundred yards away, is so shrouded in smog that I cannot see it. Then my spirits sink.

Beijing's cityscape, with its mirrored tower blocks, and its steel and glass, is a city designed to reflect a blue sky and puffs of white cloud. Smog reflected is smog amplified, and some of the most stunning architectural designs in the world appear as little more than murky shapes. When Ethiopian world record holder Haile Gebrselassie said he would not take part in the marathon in Beijing because he feared the pollution would aggravate his asthma, he raised the question: what about the people who live there?

Expatriates who live in Beijing are there largely out of choice. For the most part, they don't plan to settle for a lifetime in Beijing. They hope that they can get out before the air does their lungs any lasting damage. Those whose lungs protest get out quickly. A couple of years ago, one very clever American entrepreneur spotted what he called "the perfect storm" and has since built a roaring business importing Swiss air purifiers. They cost about £700 each, but many expatriates have several humming constantly in their homes.

But the Chinese population of Beijing has little choice. They are unlikely to be able to leave town – their jobs and families tie them there. Even if they were to move out of Beijing, many of China's other cities offer little better in terms of air quality. Water quality and food quality are equal concerns. For much of the time, we are – expatriates and Chinese alike – in denial. Who can survive, day to day, if they are thinking that every breath they take is toxic? Worse, that every breath their child takes is toxic?

China's astounding growth means that, so far, everyone has turned a blind eye to the appalling quality of the air. For the expatriate, China is the engine of the world economy, and an immensely rewarding place to live and work in many ways. Similarly, many Chinese residents see their own living standards rise with every puff of smoke from a factory chimney.

The lack of a free press has helped to foster a mass delusion. Until recently, most Chinese I met simply referred to smog as "fog" until the newspapers announced there would be a new word – "mai" or "haze". There are now warnings in the press on particularly bad days that children, the elderly and those with heart conditions, should not go outside. These are rare instances of transparency in a system that is generally as opaque as the sky.

The authorities are adept at being economical with the truth. There is no real-time monitoring. So, apart from the truly atrocious days when the government itself issues warnings, it is impossible for schools to know whether it is safe or not to let children out to play. Some western experts have caught the authorities moving the monitoring stations away from more polluted areas. Satellite photography has shown Beijing completely hidden in smog even at times when Chinese officials have said the air quality is acceptable.

Of course, this is pollution that we in the west have exported to China – if the goods that we buy in the shops were all manufactured in Britain, our air would be foul. China's communist government has welcomed the polluting industries because it needs continuously to raise living standards in order to retain its own hold on power. China's population has put up with it so far, partly out of economic necessity, partly out of ignorance fostered by the press, and partly because any act of protest is met with instant retribution.

I will be in Beijing for the Olympics, and I am fascinated to see whether the emergency measures will have the desired effect. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to get my children to school because our car (which has an odd-numbered licence plate) will only be allowed out on odd-numbered days. The measures will be in place from July 20 to September 20 (the end of the Paralympics). For two months, the city will grind almost to a halt, as any enterprise that is judged to be polluting will be temporarily closed down. It's true that the air is generally better at Chinese New Year, when the whole country is on holiday. If the air is clear in August, it will show that where there is a will there is a way. But no government could expect as a permanent measure to close down industry and take half the cars off the road.

Many Chinese people are beginning to grumble about air quality, and to worry about their children. Those with internet access may have seen alarming statistics from the WHO about the numbers of pollution-related cancer deaths. Sometimes, pollution scandals leak onto the internet and embarrass the authorities. Under pressure from the west, China is beginning to take notice of the need to foster greener technologies. There are many ways in which China has leapfrogged the west. It is possible that China's leaders may surprise us all.