Beijing

Victims of China's Air Pollution: Lung Cancer in 8-Year-Olds

Though smoking is on the decline in China, lung cancer rates are rising. Twenty-year olds have joined seniors as likely patients, attributed to the toxic clouds containing particulates that regularly envelope China's eastern cities.

December 29, 2013 - Los Angeles Times - World

Can the Great Green Wall of China Keep Out the Desert?

At the edge of the Kubuqi Desert in Inner Mongolia a nonprofit organization is planting millions of trees to slow the advancing sands. At stake is the air quality in Beijing and, perhaps, "the viability of the Asian continent."

November 22, 2013 - The Washington Post

China Announces Ambitious Plan to Tackle its Atrocious Air

As China's hazardous environment becomes a "potent political issue", the central government has released a detailed plan that aims to clean up the country's abysmal air pollution.

September 18, 2013 - The New York Times

High-Rise Topping Mountain Retreat Drives Chinese Authorities Over the Edge

Authorities have ordered an acupuncture clinic owner and former government advisor to demolish the bizarre addition he's built on top of his 26th-story penthouse apartment. If the description sounds weird, just wait until you see the pictures.

August 16, 2013 - South China Morning Post

Homeowners Threaten Beijing's Hutong Heritage

For years, Beijing's historic homes have been threatened by redevelopment pressures. Now, the building of illegal additions by homeowners looking for affordable ways to expand are causing alarm. For the local government, the solution is demolition.

July 31, 2013 - The New York Times

Friday Funny: Rush Hour on Beijing's Subway is Kinda Crazy

Buzzfeed has posted a stunning video clip of the mad scramble to exit and board a train along Beijing's subway line #13 during the morning commute at Xierqi station. Calling it "rush hour" simply doesn't do this justice.

July 26, 2013 - BuzzFeed

Chinese Cities Lead List of the World's Most Unaffordable

While it may not have the world's highest absolute property values, Beijing has the highest imbalance between housing prices and incomes. Gwynn Guilford examines why this is problematic for the country's economic and social wellbeing.

July 2, 2013 - Quartz

Chinese Cities Take Steps to Tame the Housing Dragon

According to Michael Pettis, who teaches finance at the University of Beijing and is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, China "is awash in cash and credit," stoking fears of an out of control housing bubble.

April 2, 2013 - The New York Times

Friday Funny: A Dastardly Plot to Secure a Subway Seat Goes Wrong

Pregnant, elderly, or infirm; subway riders throughout the world rely on the kindness of strangers to secure a seat on the subway. The extraordinary efforts of one Beijing woman to get a seat were discovered in embarrassing fashion recently.

March 1, 2013 - South China Morning Post

China Announces Plan to Tax Carbon

Part of a larger strategy to address its numerous environmental ills, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases will begin taxing carbon emissions, possibly as early as 2015.

February 21, 2013 - Quartz

Beijing Smog Levels "Off The Scale"

In Beijing, the level of air pollution is the highest the monitors at the U.S. embassy have ever recorded since put in place in 2008. The pollution results from a combination of weather conditions and particulate matter - most from coal burning.

January 15, 2013 - The New York Times - Environment

Rooftop Gardens Grow in China

As this video from The Perennial Plate, a web series about sustainable food, demonstrates, rooftop gardening is becoming a global phenomenon.

January 6, 2013 - The Atlantic

Chinese Developer Pirates Plans for Hadid Project

Counterfeiting is, of course, nothing new in China. From DVDs to Apple stores to an entire Austrian village, the country is rife with copycats. But a new project in Chongqing may take the cake, reports Kevin Holden Platt.

January 3, 2013 - Spiegel Online

China High Speed Rail

World's Longest High-Speed Rail Line Opens

The opening of the 1,200-mile Beijing to Guangzhou high-speed rail line marked the latest milestone in "one of the world’s largest and most ambitious infrastructure projects." The longest such segment in the world takes only 8 hours to traverse.

December 27, 2012 - The New York Times

China Plans Rapid Growth in Urban Rail Systems

Unlike its slowing economy, infrastructure projects across China continue to expand. Already home to three of the world's most-used transit systems, China plans to invest $127 billion in the coming decade to build dozens of new urban rail projects.

September 19, 2012 - the transport politic

What an Epic Rain Revealed About Beijing

The historic rainstorm that struck the Chinese capital last Saturday washed away the gloss of decades of rapid growth, revealing the failures of its infrastructure and its leaders, write Jacob Fromer and Edward Wong.

July 28, 2012 - The New York Times

To Fix Its Streets, China Turns to the Crowd

As China goes car crazy, a new crowdsourcing website seeks to address the needs of Beijing's lowly pedestrians and bicyclists, reports Nate Berg.

July 26, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Can Madrid's Bid for a Thrifty Olympics Succeed?

As the start of London's summer games grows near, the competition to host the 2020 Olympics is heating up. Paul Sonne looks at whether the "shoestring" bid of Madrid, formed amidst Spain's austerity drive, can beat out the other finalists.

July 17, 2012 - The Wall Street Journal

In China, Are Bikes Going the Way of the Dodo?

Matthew Stevenson anticipates the end of the bicycle in China's major cities, now overrun with scooters and scrambling for Western status symbols – in spite of ever-worsening traffic.

June 26, 2012 - New Geography

Visionary Skyscraper Finally Completed

Add this to the "oh yeah" file. After eight years of construction, the completion ceremony for the OMA-designed China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters in Beijing was held this week.

May 17, 2012 - Archinect

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