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As one who suffers deeply from allergies, my trip to China wracked my nerves for how badly the air pollutants would aggravate my sinuses. I don’t often brag about my test scores, but I did happen to score in the 99th percentile for most allergic in the US last year. Before the trip, rumors of sneezes rocketing black grog haunted my congested head, and so I packed 15 high-grade filter masks that I could use just in case my reactions became unbearable.
I did not use a single one. For all the hype, China’s inner cities of Shanghai and Beijing harbored air only moderately more contaminated than what I am used to in the United States. At least from what I detected, the Chinese have successfully mitigated the extensive air pollution they have suffered from in past years.
I attribute a significant amount of this progress to their intentionality in integrating greenery among the tons of concrete making up the cities. Arriving first in Shanghai, I quickly realized the canopy of trees protecting roads in nearly every direction. We took a two hour walk around the city upon our arrival and not once during that time did we walk along a street without an awning of flora. Beautifully intermingled amongst the manmade edifices stood these humble trees that benefited the city far more than just aesthetically.
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| City of Shanghai |
The Chinese government invests heavily into Shanghai and Beijing by directing funds and economic opportunity away from surrounding areas and centralizing them in these cities. President Xi Xing Ping desires to win back China’s global glory by developing its cities and culture to the point where they compete on the world stage as equals among the west. This national narrative has inculcated a pride among some that seeks to demonstrate China’s readiness to contend with the west by boasting the prosperity of their cities, sometimes at the abandonment of nearby municipalities. As a result, these cities become their showpiece, and rightfully so: enormous, enthusing, and enterprising, they display the unprecedented Chinese advancement of the past decades.
Sadly, resources are finite. This impressive display Shanghai presented masked an unfortunate reality found in neighboring, smaller cities. We had free time on our last day in Shanghai, and a few of us traveled to one of those nearby cities called Suzhou. The refined atmosphere of China’s trophy city quickly degenerated upon entering this struggling town plagued by pollution. To enter, we walked over a bridge traversing a lake that at first glance I thought was concrete. Its gray, matte finish blended in with the town’s color scheme, and stank of dead fish. Here you can see it, unedited:
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| Near the Entrance to Suzhou |
The intentionality found in Shanghai to clean the air, water, and streets was absent in Suzhou. According to our guide, this small city represented the common city found in China. Here I had wished I brought along with me my filtering mask, as the absence of extensive vegetation left the air thick. The city, however bustling and full of life, had not received the investment that Shanghai or Beijing had from the Chinese government. Oddly enough, visiting Suzhou became one of my favorite days during my China trip because I got to interact with what felt like a genuine China. The people and vendors had a unique spirit about them that communicated a peaceful acceptance of their portion of the world. We ate traditional noodles for the cheapest price during the whole of our trip that may have been the best tasting, too. Although tainted by contamination, this small city’s beauty rested in a tranquil garden undisturbed by development that we visited near the day’s end. Now, Suzhou’s predicament is to not allow its pollution to amass and destroy its last strongholds of beauty that form what we came to love about the town.
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| Closer to the city center of Suzhou |
Recently China purports to have taken steps to curb its emissions and lead the world towards more responsible environmentalism. After visiting, I now know that these advancements must extend beyond their crowns Shanghai and Beijing to less the less glamorous provinces that often miss the spotlight. China must decide if enacting and enforcing climate change policy will produce an outcome that will cost less than pursuing unhindered economic growth. Altogether, if it chooses to pursue the former, it will play its part in the global effort to keep rising temperatures below two degrees centigrade, but more specifically for China, it will create a cleaner economy that supports the health of its people, culture, and environment.
Isaac Feinn, of Louisville, Ky., is a member of the McConnell Scholar Class of 2019. He studies biology and political science at the University of Louisville.