Blackened is the end

Back in my livin' in China days (93-94) I got sick a few times. I had the "kill me now" food poisoning just once, but I never need that again. You think you know pain? You know nothing. Never before or since have I experienced such complete body suffering. Anyway, that was a memorable acute problem. I had a chronic breathing problem, as breathing Chinese air is like hooking up a face mask to a running car engine. The environment is so compromised that cities are having to stop using their sources of water. The city in question, Harbin, was known for its Russian influence and its ice festival. Now it will be the Love Canal of China. The book to read (full disclosure, I own it, but haven't read it) is The River Runs Black, a study of China's environmental crisis. Some of the Government/China PhD candidates I met at Georgetown were convinced that place is going to fall apart. Take that with a can of Morton's, but also be skeptical of the China will crush us all talk.