With around 15% of China covered by a persistent smog, Yu Dan, a Beijing academic and social commentator, has dispensed advice on Sina Weibo, the Chinese microblogging platform: “Close the doors and windows, turn on the air purifier.”
Compared with the Beijing government’s guidance — which included a prohibition on outdoor barbecues, as if that was the real cause of the bad air — the Feb. 23 suggestions from the media-studies professor at Beijing Normal University seemed practical enough.
But Yu’s greatest counsel for those living in “a city without sunlight” was psychological. “If all those [other methods] don’t work, all you can depend on is your mental protection,” she wrote. “Don’t let the haze into your heart.”
Yu’s recommendation has generated a Weibo backlash. Li Chengpeng, a former journalist and Weibo celebrity, retorted: “With your mental protection, I will be able to defeat both the haze and lasers.” He was referring to a military analyst’s infamous comment on state television that China’s smog could be the country’s best defense against U.S. laser weaponry.
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China’s current noxious air is forecast to linger until at least Thursday. Beijing has, for the first time, raised its new smog-alert system to orange, the second highest tier of the color-coded scale. On Feb. 24, the Global Times, a Beijing-based newspaper with links to the Communist Party, ran a picture of a mask-wearing Beijing resident taking his golden retriever for a walk in the smog. The dog was also wearing a mask.
— With reporting by Chengcheng Jiang / Beijing
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