Interesting(?)
The map at aqicn.org/map/ shows the air quality in Peking to be better throughout than where i live (Ishigaki Island, 250km east of Taiwan).
i am trying very hard to phrase this in a way and not be a dick but… dude who in the fuck still says Peking? Shit man time to turn on that new fangled what-cha-ma-call it?.. the talking box… and welcome in the 19th century…
I’ve got an old map that calls it Peiping. Different strokes.
I’ve got an old map that calls it Peiping. Different strokes.[/quote]
Yep. The Chinese government’s policy has always been ‘you say tomayto, we say tomato’. Splitters! Western imperialist running dogs! 
Cantonese speakers still call it Peking.
But that maps a little odd, Yuli. PLaces in China reporting 43 right next door to places with high hundreds seems like wishful reporting in many cases.
and all of Korea can’t be that green, surely. They do still make quite a bit of steel there, of course you know.
Doesn’t have to be terribly old for that. People (including mapmakers) in Taiwan still called it 北平 up until very recently.
As for the figures, I believe I read somewhere that Beijing keeps its own numbers on pollution which are far far below the numbers reported by the US embassy there. This map is perhaps using the official data.
“Predictably, the Peking fossil is now sometimes called Beijing Man. Why, since we are talking English rather than Chinese, do we go along with ‘Beijing’ at all, when referring to China’s capital? There’s a rather charming programme on British television called Grumpy Old Men, which is a genially edited collection of grouses and grizzles of this kind. If I were on it, I would say something like the following. We don’t dab on a splash of Eau de Köln to drown out the smell of Mumbai Duck, or go waltzing to the strains of ‘The Blue Dunaj’ or ‘Tales from the Wien Woods’. We don’t compare Neville Chamberlain, the Man of München, to Napoleon’s retreat from Moskva. Nor yet (though give it time) do we take our snuffling little pet Beij for walkies. What’s wrong with Peking, when it’s the English language we’re speaking? I was delighted recently to meet a member of the British diplomatic corps, fluent in Mandarin, who had played a leading role in our embassy in what he insisted on calling Peking.”
Richard Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution (New York: Free Press, 2009), p. 184 (footnote):
[quote=“John”]
"Predictably, the Peking fossil is now sometimes called Beijing Man. Why, since we are talking English rather than Chinese, do we go along with ‘Beijing’ at all, when referring to China’s capital? [/quote]
I’m more partial to Piltdown Man myself. Greatest practical joke ever.
In Spanish I think it is 50/50 spilt usage Pekin-Beijing.
No offense taken. 
We say “pekin” here on our island and in the rest of the country…
[quote=“urodacus”]But that maps a little odd, Yuli. PLaces in China reporting 43 right next door to places with high hundreds seems like wishful reporting in many cases.
and all of Korea can’t be that green, surely. They do still make quite a bit of steel there, of course you know.[/quote]
Well, too bad… it seemed like a smart idea, this map, but if it’s just a map of “official” data, bent into the appropriate shape depending on what is politically “correct” that day, then, well… 
Peking Man and Peking University are the only common uses of the phrase in the English-speaking world. And those are historical relics, not because people still refer to it that way.
I was Peking Man after two cans of Red Bull.
[Ed. 
]
Anyway, some interesting pictures showing how much the pollution can vary in Beijing over a six day period.
In the Spring there were days I couldn’t see this stack outside of my office.
Mmmm, pretty.
BTW, do those things burn coal or oil?
[quote=“headhonchoII”]Mmmm, pretty.
BTW, do those things burn coal or oil?[/quote]
Coal - a steam plant for heating. What you can’t see are three story coal bins next to the school and painted blue with clouds.
Oh no! You left out the truly significant member of the Peking trinity.
There’s something wrong about those duck fajitas. Maybe it’s the northerner in me but looks like it needs roast potatoes and gravy.
Yeah, that Khanbaliq sure is polluted.