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Skip the Cigarettes, Breathe in Beijing's Air

TranslationsThis post also available in:

Español · Deja los cigarrillos, respira el aire de Pekín
繁體中文 · 在北京抽免費的煙
简体中文 · 在北京抽免费的烟
русский · Откажитесь от сигарет и просто вдохните воздух Пекина

The former head of Google China and influential Micro-blogger Kai-Fu Lee posted[zh] to his 32 million fans on Sina Weibo an imaginary conversation between a Beijinger and a Shanghainese:

Beijinger: “We Beijingers are the most fortunate, we can open the window and have free cigarettes.” Shanghainese: “That's nothing, we can enjoy pork soup simply by turning on our faucets!!”

This sarcastic dialogue refers to the terrible air pollution in Beijing and the dead pigs found floating in Shanghai’s main water source, the Huangpu river. The dialogue was retweeted over 61, 790 times since it was posted on March 13, 2013.

 

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