This morning, I woke up to a sight that immediately took me back to the first morning in my apartment when I first arrived in China. It was the sight of what I thought was fog but then realized was actually smog. When I came home, I noticed there was soot that had accumulated at the bottom of my doorstep. I turned on my new air purifier and decided to wear a breathing mask for several hours.

This time of year is notorious for the air quality being bad. Much of it is due to the use of coal, but it also comes from factories. The AQI readings from local Chinese sources always give a reading much lower than foreign readings, so we have to look at other foreign source readings for accurate data.

There is also the joke about how “it’s not smog, it’s just fog,” except that fog normally doesn’t dry out and irritate your sinuses and burn your throat, nor does it have a distinct industrial smell to it.

Anyway, here is what I woke up to.