The Drawbacks of Blue Sky Days （蓝天的坏处）

I looked out the window Monday morning, and thought, "Beautiful!" It was so clear, and the sky was a sparkling blue - not the sun-reflecting-off- strange-chemical-dust sparkle of a Beijing sunset, but a true blue. I was so excited, and rushing out the door of my building I noted how refreshing it was to be able to breathe easily.

But ask yourself, what makes a Beijing morning clear? The answer is wind. Oh, yes, wind. I should have realized this, because the night before was Lantern Festival, and the wind battering the apartment building was so loud it drowned out the sound of the fireworks.

It was 18 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday and the wind was only about 1000 miles an hour from every direction. Despite my religious and extensive morning moisturizing routine, my face and hands were stinging dry within minutes. And I was out in the freezing wind for many minutes, because taxis in Chinese cities magically disappear in any sort of bad weather. Although the minimum taxi fare (10 RM/ $1.25) is more than 20 times the price of a bus ride for a holder of a public transport card (4 mao/ .4 RMB/ 5 ¢) - I have one! - it is still cheap enough that Beijingers jump into them at the slightest spot of rain or apocalyptic gusts of wind, thus exhausting the supply.

One poor foreigner at the front gate of my building waited for 1 hour for a taxi. My fearless neighbor Mark and I were not that patient and chose instead to dive in front of a 67-pound Chinese girl who was also racing for the one available taxi we saw after about 20 minutes of searching.

Later that evening, a taxi driver went through a very convoluted string of logic to try to convince me the sudden onset of chilly blasts was good for Beijingers' health. Something along the lines of, if it were too comfortable this early in Spring, people's bodies would get accustomed, and sprout like young shoots too early in the season. Then, a stiff chill could be lethal. So the cold weather now prevents that situation by sending people back into their homes to nurse their windburn. I fully allow that my Chinese language skills might have made this even more confusing than it already was, but this guy was talking for a while, and he was pretty adamant about his opinion. I left the cab wondering if perhaps a serious but subtle Chinese political commentary had just gone over my head.

Here is the view from my apartment on the blue sky day:

In & Around Beijing 2007