Changsha Residents Distressed by Polluted Air

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, January 12, 2002

Changsha Residents Distressed by Polluted Air

Most residents in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province have had to wear gauze respirators recently to avoid air pollution.

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Most residents in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province have had to wear gauze respirators recently to avoid air pollution.

"I dare not go out in the morning or open windows to air my room. Even the quilts being dried outside are soiled by the air," said Yang, an old man living on Yingbin street in Changsha.

Most local media are focusing on the dramatically deteriorating air quality. The Hunan Daily has just published an article entitled Black Roses Blossoming Overhead, featuring the sight: seen by a reporter from the top of a 30 storeyed building in Furongzhong Road on January 9 in which ten big chimneys were emitting strong black smoke together with numerous small smokestacks letting out smoke, shrouding the city in dusty air.

With its Air Pollution Indicator (API) reaching its highest level yet over four consecutive days from January 4, Changsha was the most polluted of the 47 major cities monitored by the China Environmental Monitoring Center, according to daily statistics released by the center.

Statistics show Changsha's air quality was slightly above polluted level in some of the first ten days of 2002, but in five of the days it was above the hazardously polluted level.

Experts blame the pollution on exhaust gas from boilers, gas stoves, chimneys and motor vehicles, and also on the recent flood of building construction work which has produced too much particulate matter.

The other reason is that pollutants cannot be quickly dispersedbecause of the lack of wind, said experts from the city's environmental protection department.

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