production by Asia Society Center on US-China Relations 
Special thanks to NASA LANCE Rapid Response (Robert Simon, Jeff Schmaltz), Air Resource Specialist
(Scott Cismoski), George Allen, Fresh Ideas, Jeff Wang, Haichun Gao, David Barreda, Yiyang Cao
Producer:
Michael Zhao 
Executive Producer:
Orville Schell
Design and development:
The Tiger Party
Photography: Jianan He,
Eric Lui (Manli Zhao, Junyong Zhang, Kylie Chan),
MidWest HazeCam,
Phoenix Visibility Web Cameras (Arizona State Department of Environmental Quality), David Green and other photographers in China (thanks to
Bill Bishop and
Beijing Cream)
Credits: Yuanbo Liu, Angel Hsu, Yuling Jia, Li Rong, Deng Tian, Lei Li, Grace Norman, Catherine Colman, Ma Jun, Shenyu Belsky, Feng Yongfeng, Leah Thompson, Laura Chang, Yunfan Sun, Susie Jakes, Sara Segal-Williams, Bo Wang, Qiaoyi Zhuang, Bill Swersey, Jesse Erlbaum, Megan MacMurray, Dan Washburn, Alex Ortolani, Lin Yang/John Billingsley
Extra Features
PM2.5 Charts (latest month)
Click
here for all charts since data collection with this project.
Interactive: Beijing Slider
In the window below, a slider can be dragged across the picture to compare between a blue-sky day and a really smoggy day in Beijing, pixel by pixel. These two days, June 19 and 22, 2009, were selected from our Beijing Air archive, photographs by Lin Yang and/or John Billingsley.
Two Perspectives: Beijing Dust Storm
The dust storm has become a seasonal eye sore and throat sore for Beijing residents and those who pass by during gritty spring days. Here below is a late March day when sand, blown from the Gobi out in the west engulfed the region and reduced visibility. Also presented is the same day's satellite image via NASA, showing the widespread effects of the dust storm. Photographs by Lin Yang and/or John Billingsley.
Beijing, Monday, March 22, 2010 API:245
Two Perspectives: One-Day Apart in Beijing
Presented below are four images of Beijing on two consecutive days: December 21 and 22, 2010. The two large images were taken by satellites via NASA, the other two from the ground. One can see that the layer of thick smog can sometimes blanket the North China Plain and even the adjacent seas. Photographs by Lin Yang and/or John Billingsley.
Beijing, Tuesday, Dec.21, 2010
Beijing, Wednesday, Dec.22, 2010
Archived Worst Week in Beijing (Plus Satellite Views)
During the four years (2007-2011) of Beijing Air, we've seen a rollercoasterof ups and downs in the city's air quality. Being able to see a few straight days of blue-sky is a luxury. During the Christmas week of 2007, smog covered the skies and API, China's government gauge of pollution levels, registered a maximum of 500 and a 420. Photographs by Lin Yang and/or John Billingsley, satellite images via NASA.
Watch: Longing for Blue Skies (with MediaStorm)
We produced this video we for Beijing Air, launched in July 2008. Although the Chinese government had invested 120 billion yuan to clean up its air before the Olympic Games, air quality has remained a major concern.
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