By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .
Sign up with Google
Sign up with Facebook
Q: Western skies "bluer" than Chinese skies? (On a clear day)
I don't mean the whole pollution thing.
When the skies are actually clear here and the PM 2.5 is low, I notice that the skies (in many parts of the country) aren't actually as blue as back home. I'm used to this deep, heavy shade of ocean blue where I'm from and in China (on a clear sunny day) it's a lighter tint of blue.
Why is this? Is it still pollution, only very thin? Anything to do with where we are in the world?
Yeah, I'd agree with that. I think there probably is some residual pollution even on the 'clear' days.
The worst pollution day in Sydney are still better than the best days I saw in any Chinese city.
I'd agree with that too. The bluest skies I see here are really more of a white sky with an ever so slight tinge of blue. Can't even begin to compare with the deep blue sky on a clear autumn day back home.
i live on the coast when at home. During the day the depth and range of blues in the sky at any one time is amazing, and it changes as the sun moves. This is if it is not cloudy 
It's certainly true with Beijing. You may be surprised, but Beijing does have it's clear days, and the city is actually very pleasant when it does. However it's this ethereal light blue color in the sky as opposed to that dark blue color you mentioned. However I have seen different in places like Qinghai and Inner Mongolia where skies were as blue as a bruise (?), so I'm guessing it's still pollution.
We have really, really blue skies here. My wife is surprised by the intensity of it, and we've been all over eastern, southern and central China on clear days. China's best days are worse than our worst days here, but there's zero pollution. AQI 0 ftw.
Even clear skies in China are not that clear, there is still some pollution. Low PM 2.5 is not 50, but 10.
I don't think that the geographical position is a factor.
happywanderer:
Totally. Everyone talks about blue skies because that's what's being waved in front of our eyes like it means that much (it's a start but that's all it is)... Doesn't cure all the people with lung cancer though, or the high rate of people still getting lung cancer. Dat sh*t still in the air huh.
angelina8:
The health effects of living in China don't end at lung cancer.
I've seen blue sky but only in the country side or out skirts of a city. China has thick cloud cover and mist because of the humidity. It's not all pollution.
I don't know, but I remember the skies "down under" (OZ/NZ) being a lot bluer - and somehow, in a difficult to describe why, looked closer - than the skies in my home in the States. The sky here in HZ is less blue than the skies back home. I don't know much about optics but the idea that cleaner skies are bluer seems borne out.
I agree with almost everyone, skies are definitely much bluer back home! And what about stars? I rarely see any stars here, my students would ask me, 'teacher why are there no stars in China? I would reply, 'because they are all in England!'
I think in eastern China there is also that "yellow dust" from the desert.
There are a few places in China with deep blue skies. The ones that come to mind for me are the mountainous plateaus around Yunnan and the northern most reaches of the Mongolian grasslands around Hailaer.
