I participated in the IOC World Conference in Beijing at the end of October, more about that some other day. It was not exactly “a good day” for Beijing. The whole IOC top management experienced the horrendous pollution. API levels shot up to 300 in some areas. Some days later the index went even higher.

Kind of difficult to say all is well when the Beijing Airport is closed due to the pollution. The other pic was taken around the same period, 3rd Ring Road looking south from the Sheraton Hotel. The PTFE roof of the National Stadium is now also becoming visible, filling up the gaps between the huge steal beams.

See also pics taken from about the same location but on a real nice day, just a couple of days later.

Returning there for another conference I was amazed with the speed of construction. Suddenly, out of nowhere they had build a large part of the bridge that will connect the 4th Ring Road with the side road of the Bird’s Nest. Only in China really.
Of course the massive construction is one of the causes of the pm10 pollution, partly due to the trucks and partly due to the construction dust.