What two (or more) quotes capture the message of the article?
“China’s air pollution is being reported in a misleading way, blocking public understanding and enabling official inaction.”
“Air Quality Indices (AQI) were designed to promote greater public understanding of pollution levels and their impacts on health, but differences in methods of measurement and reporting have led to public confusion.”
“Near real-time assessments of the air quality and the health impacts provided by the US Embassy and Consulates are critical for helping the public to limit their exposure during the regular occurrences of high pollution levels”
What is the main point of the article, and how is it supported?
The main point is “There is an urgent need to revise the deceptive assessments of air pollution devised fifteen years ago and to re-start reporting of annual monitoring station data.”
The article stresses the urgent need to revise the air pollution assessment by point out that living in a highly polluted Chinese city results in a three-year reduction in life expectancy. And all 74 Chinese cities ranked in 2013 were moderately polluted and over 66% were worse than highly polluted. However, cities can officially report up to “excellent or good” air quality.
“Officially, Beijing had 307 days in 2013 where air pollution was at moderate levels or better. But Beijing’s annual fine particulate concentration of 90.1 micrograms per cubic metre (and approximately 103 micrograms at the US Embassy) was over nine times the WHO guidelines - even on days when pollution is fifteen times the WHO annual guidelines the government classifies the air quality as “moderate”. Twelve cities were worse than Beijing, including Xingtai in Hebei province, which had an annual concentration of 155 micrograms per cubic metre. “
What actors (individuals or organizations) are referred to? (Provide names and short descriptions.)
Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China
MEP responsible for formulating and implementing environmental protection plans, policies and standards, organize the preparation of environmental function zoning, supervision and management of environmental pollution control, coordinate and solve major environmental problems, as well as environmental policy development and implementation, supervision and enforcement of the law, cross administrative Region environmental Affairs and coordination tasks.
What kind of causation or responsibility is argued or implied in the article?
MEP of PRC should stop the misleading report of air pollution status and improve air quality assessment and change the description of health impact of the report. It also suggests that MEP should add AQI report based on real-time single hour average to help people limit their exposure to high pollution levels.
How (if at all) are health disparities or other equity issues addressed in the article or report?
No, there is no equity issue addressed.
What three points, details or references from the article did you follow up on to advance your understanding of the issued and actors described in the article?
Differences in Pollution Description s in US and Chinese AQI( used by the article)
Air quality is considered satisfactory, and air pollution poses little or no risk
Moderate
51 to 100
Air quality is acceptable; however, for some pollutants there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.
Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups
101 to 150
Members of sensitive groups may experience health effects. The general public is not likely to be affected.
Unhealthy
151 to 200
Everyone may begin to experience health effects; members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects.
Very Unhealthy
201 to 300
Health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population is more likely to be affected.
Hazardous
301 to 500
Health alert: everyone may experience more serious health effects
Full citation and link.
Steven Q Andrews, “China's air pollution reporting is misleading”, https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/6856-China-s-air-pollution-reporting-is-misleading, accessed 9/30/15
安•雪峰，中国空气质量报告应开始正确描述健康影响[OL]，https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/6856-China-s-air-pollution-reporting-is-misleading，2015-9-30
What two (or more) quotes capture the message of the article?
“China’s air pollution is being reported in a misleading way, blocking public understanding and enabling official inaction.”
“Air Quality Indices (AQI) were designed to promote greater public understanding of pollution levels and their impacts on health, but differences in methods of measurement and reporting have led to public confusion.”
“Near real-time assessments of the air quality and the health impacts provided by the US Embassy and Consulates are critical for helping the public to limit their exposure during the regular occurrences of high pollution levels”
“中国的空气质量报告误导了公众对污染状况的认识，使政府能够不作为的空间。”
“空气质量指数制定的初衷是帮助公众了解污染状况及其对健康的影响，但现在不同的测量标准和评价反而使公众更加困惑。”
“鉴于空气污染严重，美国大使馆和领事馆提供的接近实时的空气质量报告和健康影响非常有助于公众控制暴露在污染空气中的时间。”
What is the main point of the article, and how is it supported?
The main point is “There is an urgent need to revise the deceptive assessments of air pollution devised fifteen years ago and to re-start reporting of annual monitoring station data.”
The article stresses the urgent need to revise the air pollution assessment by point out that living in a highly polluted Chinese city results in a three-year reduction in life expectancy. And all 74 Chinese cities ranked in 2013 were moderately polluted and over 66% were worse than highly polluted. However, cities can officially report up to “excellent or good” air quality.
“Officially, Beijing had 307 days in 2013 where air pollution was at moderate levels or better. But Beijing’s annual fine particulate concentration of 90.1 micrograms per cubic metre (and approximately 103 micrograms at the US Embassy) was over nine times the WHO guidelines - even on days when pollution is fifteen times the WHO annual guidelines the government classifies the air quality as “moderate”. Twelve cities were worse than Beijing, including Xingtai in Hebei province, which had an annual concentration of 155 micrograms per cubic metre. “
“中国急待修改15年前制定的具有误导性的空气污染评级，恢复各监测站的年均浓度值的报告。”
文章强调修订空气污染的迫切需求。指出生活在一个高度污染的中国城市会导致三年寿命减少。再加上“去年参加空气质量排名的74中国城市，年度污染水平都超过中等，而且66%以上的城市是高度污染以上”。然而，城市的正式空气质量报告可以高到“优良”。
“根据中国的官方报告，2013年北京有307天空气质量等级在良及以上。然而北京地区的PM2.5颗粒物年均浓度为90.1毫克/立方米(美国大使馆报道数的数字为年均103毫克/立方米)，是世卫组织指导标准的9倍多,也比2012年的年均浓度高10%。在PM2.5浓度达到世卫组织标准15倍的时候，官方对空气质量的评级依然是“良”。还有12个城市污染比北京更严重，如河北省邢台市的年均污染物浓度为155毫克/立方米。”
What actors (individuals or organizations) are referred to? (Provide names and short descriptions.)
Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China
MEP responsible for formulating and implementing environmental protection plans, policies and standards, organize the preparation of environmental function zoning, supervision and management of environmental pollution control, coordinate and solve major environmental problems, as well as environmental policy development and implementation, supervision and enforcement of the law, cross administrative Region environmental Affairs and coordination tasks.
中华人民共和国环境保护部
环保部负责拟订并实施环境保护规划、政策和标准，组织编制环境功能区划，监督管理环境污染防治，协调解决重大环境保护问题，还有环境政策的制订和落实、法律的监督与执行、跨行政地区环境事务协调等任务。
Source: http://baike.baidu.com/
What kind of causation or responsibility is argued or implied in the article?
MEP of PRC should stop the misleading report of air pollution status and improve air quality assessment and change the description of health impact of the report. It also suggests that MEP should add AQI report based on real-time single hour average to help people limit their exposure to high pollution levels.
中华人民共和国环境保护部应停止的空气污染状况的误导性的报告，并改善空气质量评估和修改的报告健康影响的描述。这也表明，环保部应该添加一个实时单小时平均值的AQI报告，以帮助人们减少暴露于高污染水平的时间。
How (if at all) are health disparities or other equity issues addressed in the article or report?
No, there is no equity issue addressed.
What three points, details or references from the article did you follow up on to advance your understanding of the issued and actors described in the article?
Differences in Pollution Description s in US and Chinese AQI( used by the article)
I followed up on the category of AQI description
U.S. AQI description from Airnow
(http://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=aqibasics.aqi)
Value
China AQI Description (http://www.cshbj.gov.cn/hjjc/news/2013-1/19_493.shtml)
I found that although general description can vary by different translation, the meaning and health concern of each level is basically the same.