Walking through Beijing¡¯s Tiananmen Square last week, a German family of five surrounded me, all wearing large face masks and sunglasses. They weren¡¯t robbing me, just asking me to take their photo. When I yelled ¡°Say ¡®cheese,¡¯ ¡± the dad joked: ¡°We are smiling under here.¡±
Only China¡¯s pollution bubble is no laughing matter, and tourists tell the story. Thanks to extreme air pollution, foreign arrivals plunged by roughly 50 percent in the first three-quarters of the year.
Beijing could see even fewer visitors to the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and the famous square dominated by a painting of Mao Zedong thanks to images of acrid smog that have been beaming around the globe.
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