8 scary facts about China's 'smogpocalypse'

The smog is thick as soup in one of the country's most populated cities

China smog
(Image credit: (Imaginechina/Corbis))

The northern Chinese city of Harbin, population 10 million, is in the midst of a "smog emergency" this week, with air pollution so thick government officials have issued a "red alert," closed public schools and urged children, the elderly, and people with respiratory problems to stay in doors.

Visibility in the city, famous for its international Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, dropped to less than 33 feet Tuesday, confusing traffic and causing the city to shut down its international airport and a major highway to avoid additional hazards on top of the already scary health threat of soup-thick air pollution.

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Carmel Lobello is the business editor at TheWeek.com. Previously, she was an editor at DeathandTaxesMag.com.