Photo: Beijing’s smog makes a thousand-foot skyscraper disappear

China World Trade Center Tower III is more than 1,000 feet tall and can’t be seen today in Beijing.
China World Trade Center Tower III is more than 1,000 feet tall and can’t be seen today in Beijing.
Image: Bill Bishop / Sinocism
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On the left, a photo that Sinocism’s Bill Bishop snapped today in Beijing. On the right, the exact same vantage on a clearer day, revealing that the smog in Beijing right now is dense enough to obscure a thousand-foot-tall skyscraper.

The air quality index maintained by the US embassy in Beijing was off the charts today, Feb. 28. State-run media called it a “sand storm,” but high levels of pollutants in the air pointed to smog, instead.

(These photos were noted earlier by Business Insider and the Washington Post.)

Next: How smog and tainted food could bring democracy in China