{"id":18023,"date":"2021-03-20T12:39:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-20T19:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=18023"},"modified":"2021-03-20T12:39:02","modified_gmt":"2021-03-20T19:39:02","slug":"desert-dust-sweeps-into-beijing-causing-chinas-worst-sandstorm-in-10-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2021\/03\/20\/desert-dust-sweeps-into-beijing-causing-chinas-worst-sandstorm-in-10-years\/","title":{"rendered":"DESERT DUST SWEEPS INTO BEIJING, CAUSING CHINA\u2019S WORST SANDSTORM IN 10 YEARS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>March 15, 20219:36 AM ET (NPR.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/people\/131724812\/scott-neuman\">SCOTT NEUMAN<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.npr.org\/assets\/img\/2021\/03\/15\/gettyimages-1231724936-68b1c4a1ce2d01b18d46eaf860cccc68b76a0219-s800-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>A woman cycles along a street during a sandstorm in Beijing on Monday.Noel Celis\/AFP via Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Residents of Beijing woke up to a choking orange hue in the air on Monday as strong winds whipped up dust from the Gobi Desert and deposited it across northern China. The country\u2019s weather bureau is calling it the worst such sandstorm in a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Beijing, morning commuters navigated cars and motorbikes through the haze, which NPR\u2019s Emily Feng describes as \u201cMars-like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1371295233401442312&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2F2021%2F03%2F15%2F977397941%2Fdesert-dust-sweeps-into-beijing-causing-chinas-worst-sandstorm-in-10-years&amp;siteScreenName=NPR&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=e1ffbdb%3A1614796141937&amp;width=550px\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The thick cloud of dust also caused more than 400 flights at the capital\u2019s two main airports to be canceled, The Associated Press reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beijing resident Flora Zou told Reuters that \u201cIt looks like the end of the world,\u201d adding, \u201cIn this kind of weather I really, really don\u2019t want to be outside.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beijing\u2019s air quality index, which last year averaged around 80, saw&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/aqicn.org\/city\/beijing\">readings at 999<\/a>&nbsp;on Monday. The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/wildfire-smoke-course\/wildfire-smoke-and-your-patients-health-air-quality-index#:~:text=An%20AQI%20value%20of%20100,generally%20considered%20to%20be%20satisfactory\">U.S. Environmental Protection Agency<\/a>&nbsp;considers 100 or less on the index to be \u201cacceptable\u201d and its highest health warning level is pegged at \u201c301 or higher.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Monday\u2019s sandstorm ranged from Xinjiang and Gansu in China\u2019s northwest to Inner Mongolia and Hebei, the weather bureau said, announcing a \u201cyellow alert\u201d due to the conditions, according to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/article\/3125433\/worst-sandstorm-decade-hits-beijing-huge-parts-northern-china\">South China Morning Post<\/a>. In all, 12 provinces and cities in northern China were engulfed in the sandstorm, as were parts of neighboring Mongolia, according to China\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/page\/202103\/1218423.shtml\">Global Times<\/a>, a newspaper published by the Chinese Communist Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.npr.org\/assets\/img\/2021\/03\/15\/gettyimages-1231724753_wide-86e55819d0c1aca5683e02551a36d1b6b8bd3565-s800-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Motorists commute on a road during the sandstorm in Beijing, which also engulfed large parts of the country\u2019s north on Monday.Greg Baker\/AFP via Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Mongolia, authorities reported six deaths and dozens of people missing as a result of the sandstorm, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-china-56399267#:~:text=In%20Mongolia%20the%20severe%20sandstorms,deaths%20and%20left%20dozens%20missing.&amp;text=China's%20Global%20Times%20media%20outlet,Monday%20before%20improving%20at%20night.\">BBC<\/a>&nbsp;reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Decades of deforestation in China used to bring monthly sandstorms to Beijing and other parts of China, but a government-sponsored tree-planting program in recent years has reduced their frequency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>March 15, 20219:36 AM ET (NPR.org) SCOTT NEUMAN A woman cycles along a street during a sandstorm in Beijing on Monday.Noel Celis\/AFP via Getty Images Residents of Beijing woke up to a choking orange hue in the air on Monday as strong winds whipped up dust from the Gobi Desert&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2021\/03\/20\/desert-dust-sweeps-into-beijing-causing-chinas-worst-sandstorm-in-10-years\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18023"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18023"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18024,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18023\/revisions\/18024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}