State Media Effort to Spin the ’5 Benefits’ of China’s Smog Falls Flat

Dec 10, 2013

State Media Effort to Spin the ’5 Benefits’ of China’s Smog Falls Flat

Increased instances of lung cancer. Respiratory problems. Asthma. Even ugly sperm. The list of noxious side effects China’s notorious pollution causes is well known – a point one Beijing newspaper felt compelled to make in a commentary following recent state-media efforts to spin the country’s smog. “It’s beyond one’s imagination to find ‘positive energy’ to unite the people in smog,” the Beijing Times said Tuesday (in Chinese). “But for some people, one way to show their existence is to treat a funeral as happy event and find pleasure in disasters.”The commentary came a day after an essay posted on the website of China Central Television outlined the “five surprising benefits” of the country’s severe air pollution (in Chinese): it unites people, makes them more equal, raises citizen awareness and knowledge and leads to an elevated sense of humor.

The pollution “unifies the Chinese people” and “makes the country more equal,” the essay noted, as citizens unite around a common complaint that doesn’t discriminate based on age, residence or income.

While it wasn’t clear whether the piece was meant to be genuine or satirical, neither official media outlets nor members of China’s online community took too kindly to the broadcaster’s apparent attempt at putting a positive spin on the toxic air.

“We lost the sight of blue sky in the smog, but we see clearly an ugly face instead,” the Beijing Times argued.

China’s bloggers offered up to CCTV their own suggestions of benefits from the pollution.

“Add this to the list: the opportunity to go abroad!” one user of Sina Weibo, China’s biggest Twitter-like microblogging platform, wrote.

“In the smog, people cannot be seen clearly, so everyone looks more beautiful because all their imperfections are hidden by the smog,” another quipped.

Social media users also had took exception to a report in the Global Times, a nationalist-leaning tabloid published by the Communist Party flagship newspaper People’s Daily, that argued the country’s smoky skies benefitted China militarily by interfering with enemy surveillance and weapons guidance systems.

“These media people are disgusting,” wrote local IBMIBM -0.11% executive George Chen. “They have no professional bottom line.”

Global Times editor Hu Xijin, writing on Sina Weibo, responded by saying Internet users had taken a “serious topic” and made a joke of it.

Last week, Shanghai and other parts of Eastern coastal China were hit by a bout of pollution, the severity of which is normally seen only in Beijing and other northern areas, with Shanghai’s pollution level at one point more than 16 times the limit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets for an average 24-hour period. The smog forced nearly 100 flight cancellations as well as some school closures in the region, with officials calling on factories to close and commuters rushing to stock up on face masks and air purifiers.

China’s leaders have acknowledged the country’s pollution problem. In an economic reform blueprint released last month, top Communist Party leaders said they would levy taxes on natural-resource use, beef up monitoring, let markets have a greater say in resource prices and make other moves, though they didn’t specify timelines.

The pollution isn’t only taking a toll on residents’ lungs and sperm—it’s also hurting China’s image abroad. A survey released in the fall showed the number of tourists to Beijing had fallen roughly 50% in the first three quarters of 2013, due at least in part to the poor air quality.

Amid all the gloom and doom, one Weibo user noted there is at least one serious benefit from the pollution: its spurs consumption the country so badly needs to rebalance its export-driven economy.

“Smog has increased the consumption of face masks and hospital bills, it promotes the textiles industry and cotton planting, contributing to national GDP,” the user said. “As the saying goes, distress rejuvenates a nation.”

Both the CCTV essay of the Global Times story have been removed from their respective organizations’ websites.