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

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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

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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.