Hazy shades of summer

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BEIJING -- I’m no meteorologist. I don’t even play one in the newspaper.

So forgive me if I’m confused by the daily air pollution index readings released each day here by the Beijing Municipal Environment Protection Bureau.

According to Bloomberg News, the World Health Organization recommends a maximum reading of 50. I repeat: Maximum.

In Beijing Wednesday, the reading was 87 inhalable particles. Now remember that the maximum is 50. Yet, Beijing officials declared the air quality that day was good.

On Tuesday, the reading was also 87. Also good, according to the officials.

What does it take to be bad?

On July 27, the reading was 118. What was that, hell? No, according to the officials, it was slightly polluted.

Now, I’ve acknowledged I’m not an expert at reading these numbers, but it does seem a bit ingenuous for officials day after day to tell us to believe their numbers instead of our lying eyes. I haven’t seen sunshine since I arrived Monday. It’s like a marine layer that never burns off.

At least I won’t lose my sunglasses. I never take them out of the room.

-- Randy Harvey