Beijing Blames Uber for Its Obscene Traffic Problem
Beijing faces overcrowded roads and pollution that are constantly getting worse. Why? According to city officials, it’s because of ride-sharing services, including Uber.
Terrifying Photos of Beijing's Toxic Smog 'White Christmas'
As you were tearing off the wrapping paper this morning, Beijing was waking up to the worst smog of the year, and a very different kind of white Christmas.
Canada Is Doing Quick Business Selling Bottled Air to China's Polluted Cities
Millions of Chinese citizens have been blanketed in thick smog recently, but where some people see only a dense haze, entrepreneurial Canadian businessmen see profit.
What Life Is Like in Beijing During China's Worst Pollution Crisis Ever
The “airpocalypse” of smog swirling over Chinese cities has reached its most dangerous levels yet. Beijing issued its first-ever red alert today, closing schools and taking cars off the road. How bad is it? According to EPA guidelines levels are at 6: “Everyone should avoid all outdoor exertion.”
China's Airpocalypse Is So Bad, It's Banning Half the Cars in Beijing
Beijing issued its first-ever red alert on Monday. The radical measure means that half the cars in the capital must stay off the streets, outdoor construction must stop, and schools must close. The pollution is simply too dangerous.
In Pictures: China Is Enveloped In Thick and Dangerous Smog
Beijing is currently choking on a thick smog, with air pollution in the city over 20 times the safe levels defined by the World Health Organisation. This is what it looks like.
This Freeway Overpass Got Completely Replaced in 43 Hours
Remember Carmageddon, LA’s massive freeway widening project that was supposed to paralyze the city? (It didn’t.) The demolition of a single overpass alone took an entire weekend. Earlier this month, a major Beijing overpass was demolished and completely replaced in less than two days.
China Cleaned Up Beijing's Smog For Its Military Parade, But Of Course It Didn't Last
It’s no coincidence that the China’s capital city had clear, sunny skies for the country’s huge military parade last week, or that Beijing’s dense smog returned the very next day. The Chinese government took extreme measures to guarantee clear skies for the its display, but it took less than 24 hours for air pollution…
Here's the 2022 Winter Olympics Venue, In The Middle of Winter
Yesterday, Beijing was awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics. Here is a photo of the mountain that will host the skiing courses, taken in the middle of January this year. You may notice a slight lack of white stuff.
Chinese Police Shut Down a Huge Counterfeit iPhone Factory
A police raid in Beijing has shut down a large counterfeit iPhone factory that had produced over 41,000 handsets, reported to be worth $19 million.
China Is Turning Beijing Into a Megacity Six Times The Size of NYC
China is already home to some of the most quickly growing megacities in the world. Now there’s a plan to officially merge several megacities around Beijing into one super-megacity that will house the equivalent of a third of the US population in an area that’s the geographical size of Kansas.
Beijing Has Literally Quadrupled in Size Over Just the Last Decade
A group of researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Stanford University used NASA’s satellite images to chart the growth of the Chinese capital city, and one of their more interesting findings was the astounding rate at which Beijing has grown during the last 10 years.
Incredible aerial view of Chinese New Year's fireworks over Beijing
Apparently, July 4th ain't got nothing on Chinese New Year in Beijing. This video was recorded on an airplane that was landing in Beijing at midnight of Chinese New Year and it shows all the fireworks going off at once across the city. It looks like every corner is firing off explosions at the same time.
Beijing's new airport terminal looks more like a gigantic spaceport
Check out Beijing's new airport terminal by Zaha Hadid: 700,000 square meters (173 acres!) in total, with an 80,000-square-meter ground transportation centre. It kind of looks like the mother of New Mexico's spaceport, from where Virgin Galactic operates:
Four Ideas to Fix Beijing's Smog Airpocalypse, And One That Will Work
The worst smog of the year so far swept into Beijing this week, coating the city in a grainy, deep grey murk on par with what the city endured in 2013, pictured above (though you'll see it's popping up again today). China is trying, hard, to get its air quality problem under control, and is considering some seriously…
Why Are So Many People Living Underground in Beijing?
With a population of 23 million and growing, Beijing is dealing with a major housing shortage. That's why thousands of immigrants looking for affordable homes in the city are going underground — literally and figuratively. A thriving gray market exists for windowless apartments buried deep below the streets.
Beijing's Giant New Desalination Plant Will Give Water to the People
Beijing is one thirsty city. Its population of 22 million consumes barely 100 cubic meters of water per capita—one fifth the international water-shortage level—thanks to a chronic drought in the nation's north. But this massive desalination plant could help supply a third of the city's water singlehandedly.
China Offers Smog Insurance for Sight-Seeing Tourists Who Can't See
China's debilitating smog problem isn't anything new at this point—at least for its residents. Tourists to Beijing, however, are still struggling with the fact that the sights they came for can often be virtually unseeable. To appease this growing group of angry travelers, China's biggest online travel agency now…
