Low environmental awareness makes citizens underestimate health risks
While heavy smog continues to smother northern China, many Chinese citizens in affected areas still see wearing masks as unfavorable and unnecessary, which analysts say is the result of a lack of environmental awareness and poor publicity about air pollution's bad influence on people's health.
Although an excessive concentration of PM2.5 - airborne particles measuring less than 2.5 microns in diameter - is harmful to people's health, wearing masks is not a preferred method of dealing with the pollution for most people, especially those who do not live in first-tier cities.
The National Meteorological Center said on Wednesday on its official website that moderate smog will continue to shroud parts of North and Northeast China - including the city of Beijing and the provinces of Hebei, Henan, Jilin and Heilongjiang - on Thursday before again becoming severe on Saturday.
Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning Province witnessed a record-high PM2.5 reading of 1,017 micrograms per cubic meter on Sunday.
Mu Ren, an agent for the Singaporean mask brand Totobobo in China, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the company has filled about 5,000 orders in the country in 2015, 80 percent of which have come from the Beijing market.
"Our masks cost about 200 yuan ($31.42) each, so most Chinese people living outside of first-tier cities don't think it's necessary to spend so much money on it," Mu said.
Da Wei (pseudonym), a police officer from Taiyuan in Shanxi Province, echoed Mu's assessment. He told the Global Times on Wednesday that although he receives smog alerts on days with heavy pollution, he does not wear a mask because it is "not useful and too troublesome."
"I'm not allowed to wear a mask when on duty," Da added.
Liam Bates, a Swiss national who runs the air purifier and air quality detector startup company Origins, told the Global Times that he has noticed a stark contrast between the attitudes of Chinese people and foreigners toward the need to protect their health on smoggy days.
"One reason that Chinese people don't like to buy anti-smog equipment like masks is because, physically speaking, they are not as sensitive to the smoggy weather. Besides, many don't know the hazardous effects the smog can have on their health," he said.
"Some have even told me they can just close their windows to avoid smog," said Bates, whose two major markets are Beijing and Shanghai.
Compared to Western countries, environmental awareness is much lower among members of the Chinese public, who are less vigilant to environment-related problems, Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based Institute of Public Environment Affairs, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
Ma said there is insufficient information on the influence of air pollution on people's health in Chinese media reports on smog, which instead focus more on pollution data.
He also urged Chinese media to learn from their Western counterparts and include more descriptions of how ordinary people can be affected by pollution.
