My pop sent me this article on Beijing's Pollution. Paul (the author, not my Dad) is right about the limited visibility. The fog that cloaks the city is so thick, you could pour it on pancakes. The first night I went out, I noticed it glowing off of the street lamps, the same glow you'd see after an intense summer downpour. Yesterday, my cab driver rolled the windows up, making the international choking gesture as we departed the Tsinghua campus.

As far as scheduled rain goes, Beijing modifies its weather. According to Jaques Leslie's article on Mother Jones:

135 "rainmakers" at 22 sites around the city have been enlisted to shoot clouds approaching Beijing with silver iodide in a cloud-seeding operation. "If rain clouds are headed toward the Olympic stadium, we will intercept them," one official said.

He makes a great point about food chain issues which arise from this as well.

Paul predicts Beijing's pollution will become a big story prior to the games, but I reckon it is one already. This USA TODAY article from last October claims that of the 50 athletes who began a men's mountain biking test event, only 8 finished. Among those who dropped out, a 2004 American Olympian who vomited during the race. To me, this makes men's mountain biking more exciting, if anything.

The Pollution is a major point of contention among China residents, too. From Lesie:

In 2005, there were nearly 1,000 pollution-related protests a week in China, and the numbers have only increased since. The protesters run the social gamut, from impoverished villagers to the urban middle class.

I haven't seen any demonstrations in my short stint here, nor is my Mandarin sufficent enough to engage a native in an environmental conversation. The pollution is commonplace in conversation among ex-pats however, and the consensus is that it's grotesque, but something you just kind of deal with, like herpes. Beijing's floating population doesn't care though, because in a few short months they'll have moved on to their next temporary home, where China's environmental problems hold no foreseeable threat. Rather, it was an itchy bump that has subsided, all but forgotten about, until it rears up in the next location.

Often, I check the current weather on my phone to see if rain's in the forecast. Often, it says it's sunny in Beijing. I've been here 10 days having only seen the sun twice, and only early in the morning before the dust begins to rise. Good news is, that somewhere above the smoggy enclosure, it's a beautiful day in Beijing.