And what I wonder about for a while: does thew high leadership breathe a different air, or why was it no problem for them until the Olympics? *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
A/C that keeps out the Beijing pollution? Doubt it. Maybe the relatively small number of people at the very top. And even they have to go outside once in a while.
lovely country mansions
Even if they did, you would probably have to go pretty far out of Beijing to get some fresh air in the "country".
No, I think the "high leadership" lives and works in the same air as the plebs.
Some colleagues of mine in Beijing (Chinese both) expressed a mixture of wonder and bitter satisfaction at this thought. Cynicism is intellectual treason.
Good question. A job I was hoping for in Beijing looks like it's going to fall through. That may be a blessing in disguise.
And what I wonder about for a while: does thew high leadership breathe a different air, or why was it no problem for them until the Olympics?
They do not breathe a different air. It may have been a problem, but a problem that had much less priority than others, in particular, how to make China rich, strong and stable again.
Incidentally, back in the 60's into the 70's, the pollution in Tokyo was so atrocious, that people were wearing masks in the streets. (Recall that the 1964 Olympics were held in Tokyo.) The Japanese high leadership that lived and breathed in Tokyo was also prioritizing other problems (like making Japan rich, strong, and stable again) over pollution. Cynicism is intellectual treason.
