Beijing’s smog is so bad it can hide a 1,000-foot skyscraper

Here’s a beautiful photo of the Beijing skyline, taken yesterday by Bill Bishop of Sinocism:

Bill Bishop

Reader support makes our work possible. Donate today to keep our site free. All donations DOUBLED!

• One Time
• Monthly

• $120
• $180
• Other
• Donate

• $10
• $15
• Other
• Donate

Dominating the photo, of course, is the majestic China World Trade Center Tower III, a 1,000-foot, 81-floor skyscraper. Do you somehow not see it? It’s sort of off to the left of the photo. Wait, here’s what the same vantage point looks like on a clear day:

Bill Bishop

To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. Here's How

See it now? Jeez, I can’t believe you missed that.

Now, this was an unusually bad day in Beijing air quality — pollution levels were off the charts by 6 a.m. Having a blanket of smog so thick that enormous mega-skyscrapers simply disappear is out of the ordinary. But it’s clearly possible. Or, well, maybe “clearly” is the wrong word here.