China's Taiyuan

I visited Taiyuan (太原) in 2001 at the height of winter. Apart from the bitingly cold winter, I remember the city for its somewhat lacklustre economy, as well as its extreme pollution.

With a population of 3.08 million, Taiyuan was not considered as impoverished as some of China's interior cities.

According to a 2003 article by Michael Jen-Siu, Taiyuan was typical of Chinese cities after two decades of economic development. It had strong local industries, but was plagued by layoffs, poor re-employment prospects, lawlessness and corruption. On the streets of Taiyuan, shopkeepers doubled as pimps, while unemployed peddled goods such as raisins, yams, and goldfish.

Compared to the national average, Shanxi province (陕西省) - where Taiyuan is the provincial capital - had relatively few schools and just one comprehensive university.

Even though Shanxi held about 70 per cent of China's historical relics, tourism was not as well-develop as one might have imagined. Other than the walled city of Pingyao (平遥), the Buddhist temples at Wutai mountain (五台山) and the Yungang grottoes (云冈石窟) in Datong (大同), most relics were hard to reach or lack the facilities that tourists expect.

Corruption was especially rampant here, where officials accept bribes from small coal mines and factories in exchange for letting them operate, despite safety or pollution problems.

Indeed, pollution was also said to have threatened Taiyuan's anchor industry - coal. Overseas investors were uninterested in investing further in the mines due to the area's excessive levels of pollution. That despite the fact that Taiyuan Iron and Steel - the biggest work unit in town - had reportedly implemented anti-pollution measures.

Despite such measures, the situation in Taiyuan does not seem to have improved. According to a 2007 article, Taiyuan residents were still "held hostage by the soot." Residents reportedly sealed their windows to keep out the dirty air. Parents were warned not to let their toddlers play outside, for fear of being covered in coal dust. And fruits and vegetables must be washed in detergent.