Wearing Face Masks to Escape Smog Is the Latest ‘Crime’ in China

Eva Fu
By Eva Fu
December 21, 2016News
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Wearing Face Masks to Escape Smog Is the Latest ‘Crime’ in China
A photograph by Chinese photographers featuring the Chengdu smog.

The presence of severe smog in many of China’s cities has made protective face masks a near requirement for anyone planning to do much outdoors.

It’s also a smothering embarrassment for Chinese regime authorities, who can cover up a wide array of human rights abuses and scandals but not the one that’s hanging right there in the air for all to see and breathe.

Recent reactions to thick smog that lingered in Chengdu, southwestern China, seemed to cross a line when the police cracked down against cleverly-devised expressions of dissent.

The city’s business center Tianfu Square was cleared and closed off as police put down a flash protest over the weekend. A number of people who put masks on the statues to protest the air pollution were detained.

The authorities have responded by starting a campaign against the masks (and public health, apparently).

A screenshot widely circulated on Wechat, a popular Chinese social media site, shows an announcement posted online by the Jiaxiang Foreign Language School, banning masks or air filters on campus.

Citing notice from higher authorities, the school dismissed the smog as a “rumor” and asked everyone to believe in the authorities. “As long as there is sunshine and oxygen in your heart, all the smog will eventually disperse,” a social media user identified as Teacher Zeng said in the announcement.

The Chengdu propaganda department issued a notice requiring all media to use “authoritative information” from the environmental department to report on this winter’s smog and other air pollution.

Local pharmacies and clinics were ordered to alert the police upon receiving large orders for face masks, and printing businesses also need to report any printing order containing the phrases “body health,” “petro pharmacy,” or “PX environmental protection,” as signs of complaint about the air pollution.

Citizens have largely blamed the smog on toxins from a local petrochemical factory in Pengzhou. This has been cause for at least three recent demonstrations, all of which were suppressed by the police.

On Dec. 12, police promptly detained eight masked persons who staged a silent sit-in protest in the bustling commercial district, questioning them for five hours before releasing them early the following morning. A woman around 60 years old who stopped to take photos was also taken away. Police force was drawn from outside into the city. Citizens reported being questioned or detained for wearing face masks, or simply taking photos of the smog.

Many disgruntled citizens found a channel online to express their frustration. “If you don’t wear a mask when you’re still living, don’t blame the smog for killing you,” some web users wrote. Others posted selfies with face masks, demanding serious official measures to improve air quality.

China has suffered from heavy air pollution since early December, with over 60 cities falling under a misty gray haze. In Chengdu, the situation was so serious that the airport could not operate for a ten-hour-period. Hundreds of flights were cancelled.  

(NTD Television)

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