Shanghai's smog gives expats second thoughts

By Matt Hodges (China Daily) 09:58, December 07, 2013

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People walk on The Bund in heavily polluted air on Friday. The air quality index in the city topped 400, indicating severe pollution hazardous to health.[PHOTOS BY GAO ERQIANG / CHINA DAILY]

Record pollution levels that saw Shanghai engulfed by acrid smog on Friday caused flightcancelations, shortages of face masks and made some expatriates reconsider their long-term plans to stay in the city.

"It's horrifying. I've never seen anything like this. I feel like I've had a constant hangoverfor four days," said Tom Duvalier of Chicago. "If you go down into the subway system, thesame smell is in the air. It's everywhere."

The air quality index measured by the Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center stoodat 482 as of 6 pm, while the US Consulate gauged it at 503 at 2 pm — a reading "beyondthe index". Levels above 300 are considered "hazardous".

It was the highest level of pollution recorded since Shanghai set up its measuring systemlast December, beating records set on Monday and Thursday, local media reported.

The smog in Shanghai follows severe pollution that affected Beijing and Harbin inHeilongjiang province in recent months.

A British expatriate working in the financial sector in Shanghai said: "The pollution is thetalk of the office. People are asking if it's cancerous, reminding everyone to wear their facemasks and saying that babies should not be taken outside.

"There are no masks left in 7-Eleven. They've sold out. People are saying that if itcontinues like this, they're not sure if they want to stay here long-term."

The Shanghai meteorological department forecast that a cold front from northern Chinawill bring winds to blow the dust particles out of the city by Monday.

To reduce emissions, the municipal authorities issued a notice in the afternoon, haltingproduction at some industrial enterprises temporarily and at outdoor construction projects.

It also removed one in three government cars from the roads. Shanghai is one of a handfulof Chinese cities with more than 2 million cars.

The severe pollution has triggered fears that companies in the city will struggle to attracthigh-quality overseas talent.

Some analysts feel it will deter foreign companies from investing in the recently openedChina (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, where economic reforms are expected to betested.

Ioana Kraft, general manager of the Shanghai office of the European Union Chamber ofCommerce in China, said, "While members leave for all sorts of reasons, we inevitably hearnearly every time that one of the contributing reasons is the air pollution."

Canadians Leslie Dolman, who recently left her administrative job at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Suzhou, and her daughter Lena are on a month-long tour of China.

"They asked me two months ago if I wanted to stay and this was one of the main reasons Ideclined," Dolman said. "But what surprises me is that China's been quite open about it."

Noticeably more Chinese and foreigners were wearing masks in Shanghai on Friday. Butsome younger Chinese who had been wearing masks all week abandoned them in despairat how bad the situation had become.

Several businesses in Tianzifang, a labyrinth of restaurants, boutiques and handicraftshops in the downtown area that is usually bustling with expatriates and tourists, said theyare losing business.

"We're usually full at this time," said Kenny Shen, manager of Kommune, a cafe popularamong foreigners and which has a large outdoor terrace. The place was almost empty atlunchtime. "Everyone that does come is dressed like a doctor," Shen said, referring to theface masks.

While school classes were canceled for the second day in Nanjing, the capital of neighboringJiangsu province, classes were not disrupted in Shanghai. Nanjing had an air quality indexreading of about 370 by mid-afternoon.

The weather was also putting outdoor charity events at risk, with the Shangri-La Hotelchanging the final leg of its "Ride for Hope" — a Shenzhen-to-Shanghai event — so thatonly six, instead of 50, cyclists will continue from Suzhou on Saturday.

While the weather conditions were bad news for most people, they caused some stocks torally. Shanghai-listed Keda Industrial, an environmental protection equipment maker, roseby 5 percent to 21.17 yuan ($3.47) a share. Shenzhen-listed Wuhu Conch Profiles andScience, which supplies environmentally friendly building materials, rose by 6.29 percentto 7.34 yuan.

（Editor：HuangJin、Zhang Qian）