Many may have wondered how top Communist Party leaders cope with the dense smog that frequently chokes the capital, with air quality recently plunging to the worst levels since before the 2008 Olympics.
The answer turns out to be simple: mainland leaders, keenly aware of the health hazards of air pollution, have been enjoying a special supply of clean air for years.
While it is no secret that the top officials and senior cadres have had the privileges of using tegong, special supplies of all sorts of things, from food to cigarettes, stationery and electronic appliances for decades, it is the first time secrets about the air quality in prestigious government buildings have been made public.
The revelation, by a mainland manufacturer of air purifiers, has fuelled bitterness and resentment among Beijingers, increasingly frustrated about the almost unbearable dirty air and the lack of progress in the hugely expensive government-led campaign to clean up pollution.
According to the Broad Group, a Hunan-based air-conditioner maker, at least 200 air purifiers are installed inside Zhongnanhai, the top leadership compound where President Hu Jintao , Premier Wen Jiabao and other leaders work and live.
"They are everywhere in Zhongnanhai, from living rooms and meeting rooms to swimming pools and gyms," the website of one of the company's Beijing dealers said. "It is a blessing for the people that our purifiers have created a healthy and clean environment for state leaders."
Top leaders began to use Broad's air purifiers in Zhongnanhai from December 2008, just three months after the Olympics.
The webpage also explains in detail how leaders were convinced of the necessity of using air purifiers when they saw proof of Beijing's filth - "ink-coloured dirty water" from dust and pollution-covered filters - at the end of a test in a meeting room used by Politburo Standing Committee members.
Air purifiers have not only made their way into Hu's office, the Great Hall of the People, the Diaoyutai State Guest House and many other government buildings. They have also become an essential luggage item whenever state leaders travel outside the compound, according to Qi Zhiwang , a Beijing-based sales manager of the equipment. Qi said air purifiers had also become a popular gift for a long list of foreign leaders and dignitaries, including Bill Gates, Tony Blair and Ban Ki-moon.
Long Yongtu, former secretary general of the Boao Forum for Asia and chief negotiator for China's accession to the World Trade Organisation, said in a video clip posted on the company's website that he carried a portable purifier wherever he travelled on the mainland. "Air pollution has become so bad that I have to use the purifier in my car and even hotel rooms," he said.
Beijingers have voiced outrage at the leaders' failure to curb pollution while finding their own solution to the city's persistent smog. "No wonder they don't care about food safety and air quality, while the grass roots are drinking melamine-tainted milk, eating gutter cooking oil and breathing deeply polluted air," remarked a microblogger on Sina Weibo.
Professor Zhou Xiaozheng , of Renmin University, agreed. "Thanks to the over-concentration of power and one-party rule, the special privileges enjoyed by special-interest groups have become the root cause of China's political, social and environmental woes," he said.
2011年11月3日星期四
2011年10月11日星期二
Air Purifier by Americans
The Austin Air Healthmate, a leading all-purpose cutting-edge air purifier, continues its climb to the top of the air purifier market as Americans demand higher indoor air quality. The Austin Healthmate incorporates a 360-degree air intake with a four-stage air filtration system that provides 99.7 percent filtration efficiency in a 1,500 sq ft area.
As fall and winter set in across the country, millions of families will spend even more time indoors at the mercy of major allergy triggers that create definitive health hazards. The EPA and its Science Advisory Board have consistently ranked indoor air pollution among the top five environmental risks to public health. Studies have shown that airborne pollutants may be 25 to 100 times higher indoors than outdoors.
It is not only allergy and asthma victims that suffer. The mold, dust mites, pet dander, volatile organic compounds in household chemicals and even wood flooring and paint are having a deleterious effect on all indoor inhabitants .In fact, the American College of Allergists says that 50 percent of all illnesses are caused or aggravated by polluted indoor air.
While air purifiers generally help, many lack true HEPA particulate filtration and sufficient stores of an activated carbon filter for the best indoor air quality. The Austin Air Healthmate air purifier combines proven filter technology that is designed to address the complete spectrum of air contaminates such as sub-micron particles, noxious gases and chemicals. The Austin Air Healthmate incorporates True Medical Grade HEPA with 99.97 percent efficiency down to 0.3 microns and 95 percent efficiency down to 0.1 microns.
Austin Air Healthmate air purifiers incorporate a 360-degree intake system to draw air into all sides, passing it through a four-stage filter that provides highly effective particle removal in a 1,500 square foot area. Every minute, over 250 cubic feet of air passes through 15 pounds of Activated Carbon/Zeolite Blend and over 60 square feet of True Medical Grade HEPA.
The result is removal of seen particles such as dust, hair and pet dander as well as small particles such as molds, spores and pollen chemicals in the first two filtration stages. Then the second two stages remove gases and odors such as sulfuric acid and ammonia as well as harmful micro-organisms such as bacteria and viruses. The result is significantly cleaner air that greatly improves health and sleep.
As fall and winter set in across the country, millions of families will spend even more time indoors at the mercy of major allergy triggers that create definitive health hazards. The EPA and its Science Advisory Board have consistently ranked indoor air pollution among the top five environmental risks to public health. Studies have shown that airborne pollutants may be 25 to 100 times higher indoors than outdoors.
It is not only allergy and asthma victims that suffer. The mold, dust mites, pet dander, volatile organic compounds in household chemicals and even wood flooring and paint are having a deleterious effect on all indoor inhabitants .In fact, the American College of Allergists says that 50 percent of all illnesses are caused or aggravated by polluted indoor air.
While air purifiers generally help, many lack true HEPA particulate filtration and sufficient stores of an activated carbon filter for the best indoor air quality. The Austin Air Healthmate air purifier combines proven filter technology that is designed to address the complete spectrum of air contaminates such as sub-micron particles, noxious gases and chemicals. The Austin Air Healthmate incorporates True Medical Grade HEPA with 99.97 percent efficiency down to 0.3 microns and 95 percent efficiency down to 0.1 microns.
Austin Air Healthmate air purifiers incorporate a 360-degree intake system to draw air into all sides, passing it through a four-stage filter that provides highly effective particle removal in a 1,500 square foot area. Every minute, over 250 cubic feet of air passes through 15 pounds of Activated Carbon/Zeolite Blend and over 60 square feet of True Medical Grade HEPA.
The result is removal of seen particles such as dust, hair and pet dander as well as small particles such as molds, spores and pollen chemicals in the first two filtration stages. Then the second two stages remove gases and odors such as sulfuric acid and ammonia as well as harmful micro-organisms such as bacteria and viruses. The result is significantly cleaner air that greatly improves health and sleep.
2011年8月11日星期四
A Painting That Winston Churchill Did For Franklin Roosevelt Is On Sale For $3 Million
Among his many talents, it turns out that Sir Winston Churchill was also a pretty gifted artist.
A New Orleans antiques shop is selling an oil painting done by the onetime Prime Minister, which he gave to his friend President Franklin Roosevelt following the 1943 Casablanca Conference (via eXtravaganzi).
The painting, which depicts the Tower of Katoubia Mosque in Marrakesh and is the only painting Churchill is believed to have done during the war years, is being sold for $2.95 million by M.S. Rau Antiques.
It had a storied past before winding up in the auctioneer's halls.
According to eXtravaganzi:
The painting was passed from President Roosevelt to his son, Elliot, who sold it in 1950 to George W. Woodward, a Nebraska collector.
Woodward later sold it to author, movie producer, financier and art collector Norman G. Hickman, who served as associate producer of the Churchill-themed film, The Finest Hours in 1964. While in his possession, The Tower of Katoubia Mosque was exhibited at the New York Daily News building in January, 1965 and later at the Churchill Memorial in Fulton, Missouri during the Summer of 1970.
Upon Hickman’s death, it was passed to his second wife and then to her daughter, where it was stored in a closet for the past 15 years.
A New Orleans antiques shop is selling an oil painting done by the onetime Prime Minister, which he gave to his friend President Franklin Roosevelt following the 1943 Casablanca Conference (via eXtravaganzi).
The painting, which depicts the Tower of Katoubia Mosque in Marrakesh and is the only painting Churchill is believed to have done during the war years, is being sold for $2.95 million by M.S. Rau Antiques.
It had a storied past before winding up in the auctioneer's halls.
According to eXtravaganzi:
The painting was passed from President Roosevelt to his son, Elliot, who sold it in 1950 to George W. Woodward, a Nebraska collector.
Woodward later sold it to author, movie producer, financier and art collector Norman G. Hickman, who served as associate producer of the Churchill-themed film, The Finest Hours in 1964. While in his possession, The Tower of Katoubia Mosque was exhibited at the New York Daily News building in January, 1965 and later at the Churchill Memorial in Fulton, Missouri during the Summer of 1970.
Upon Hickman’s death, it was passed to his second wife and then to her daughter, where it was stored in a closet for the past 15 years.
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