the privileges of china’s elite include purified air - water air purifier

Andrew Jacobs
2011 Beijing-
The senior membership of the Communist Party of China has always had some undeniable advantages.
There's a state-
Luxury cars, special schools and even organic products for young people
Government guards-run farms.
When they get sick, senior leaders can live in 301 military hospitals that have long been considered the capital's premier medical institution.
But even ordinary Beijingers may feel some comfort at their most jealous moments, because they know that on particularly polluted days, the wet air they breathe also enters the lungs of the privileged class.
Such assumptions do not seem entirely accurate.
It turns out that many of the homes and offices of the top leaders are filtered by the top.
At least according to a Chinese company, it has been promoting its air terminal equipment.
Purify machines in advertising, emphasizing that they are everywhere where many officials work and live.
Zhang Zhong, vice president of the company, said more than 200 purifiers were distributed in the Great Hall of the people, the Chinese President Hu Jintao's office and Zhongnanhai, the walled compound of senior leaders and their families.
"Creating clean, healthy air for our national leaders is a blessing to the people," the company's promotional materials include endorsements from various government and corporate leaders, one of which Long Yongtu, he is a senior economic official who insists on using the device for car rides and hotel accommodations.
"Breathing clean air is a basic human need," he said in a recommendation . ".
In the advertisements of some countries, a well's gushing endorsement
Appointed officials will be seen as a public relations coup.
But in China, complaints about senior executives and dignitaries are rising, and news of the company's advertising campaign is sparking a whirlpool of criticism.
"They don't have to eat gutter oil or drink toxic milk powder, and now they can be protected from dirty air," said a post on Sina Weibo.
"It shows that they are indifferent to the lives of ordinary people.
"The advertising news says Chinese leaders are largely isolated from Beijing's famous dirty air.
In recent weeks, the capital has been shrouded in beige shadows, and readings from the US embassy's roof air monitoring device have repeatedly shown unsafe levels of particulate matter.
But these hourly data released on Twitter or via the iPhone app have sparked a public debate about whether the Chinese government has deliberately covered up the extent of air pollution in China.
Unlike the US embassy data, Chinese environmental officials have not publicly released data on the smallest particles, which are less than 2.
Scientists say 5 microns are the most harmful because they can penetrate the lungs so deeply.
Instead, government data covers only pollutants larger than 10 microns.
Includes categories of sand blown in from the arid north and dust stirred up from construction sites.
Environmental officials prefer to pay attention to the improvement of air quality in recent years, mainly through the replacement of coal
Use electric heaters and close heavy industry in and around the capital.
Driving restrictions slightly eased the environmental damage of 700,000 new cars that joined the capital's congested roads last year.
But when stressed, the officials admitted that their pollution indicators deliberately ignored smaller particles, most of which were produced by exhaust gas from cars and trucks.
In fact, according to a diplomatic telegram released by WikiLeaks this year, the monitor of the US embassy has become an unwelcome invasion of China's internal affairs, and a foreign ministry official asked the United States to stop publishing the data.
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Director of the Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs, a non-profit organization in Beijing, said many government officials were concerned that public disclosure of the data could hinder development, it may also damage the image of cities that are clamoring for environmental integrity.
"I do not agree with this philosophy," said director Ma on June.
"The government's more urgent priority should be to warn the public when air quality is dangerous, so that people with poor air quality, such as children or the elderly, are vulnerable, you can make decisions to protect your health.
"The government does seem to be moving in that direction.
On September, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said it plans to revise the national air quality standards to include the smallest particulate matter, although it has not announced a timetable for adopting the new standards.
However, officials in Beijing are clearly not fully prepared to accept the offer.
In response to criticism of the severe smog in recent weeks, Du Shaozhong, a spokesman for the city's environmental protection bureau, assured the public that they should feel safe in the government's own readings, although embassy monitors found the city's air to be so dangerous that it exceeded the measurable level, it was still referred to as "light pollution ".
"Air quality in China should not be judged by data released by foreign embassies in Beijing," he said . ".
According to Yuanda Group's website, it doesn't take much time to convince Communist party leaders to buy the company's air purifiers, some of which cost $2,000.
To prove this, the company's executives installed one in the conference room used by the Politburo Standing Committee.
Soon after, the deal was apparently sealed when the technician showed cleaning up the soot --laden filters.
"After seeing the ink-like dirty water, Yuanda air purifier became the air purifier designated by the state leader!
Said on the website.
Research by Eddie Hyun.
A version of the article appears on page A4 of The New York edition of November 5, 2011, titled: breathe fresh air for China's party elite.
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