I'm sure you've heard the statistics that say breathing the polluted air in Beijing is like smoking 40 cigarettes per day, and air pollution is responsible for 4,000 deaths a day in China, but stats are hard to visualize.
So in order to bring attention to the environmental issue of air pollution, and illustrate how bad the air actually is in Beijing, performance artist "Nut Brother" vacuumed the air for months then made a brick out of his findings.
His vacuuming lasted four hours a day for 100 days, and then he mixed the soot and filth he'd gathered from the air with clay and created one big ol' brick of Beijing smog. *cringe*
-Via Beautiful/Decay
When I lived in Beijing, I would blow my nose at night, to clean all the black grime out, before going to bed. What a dump.
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Lived in Beijing for 4 months last year. Not EVERY day is bad--indeed, there are many that are beautiful gorgeous clean sun-drenched days! The two major factors are what the winds are doing (if thar' blowin', the air is much better!); and if some big international event is imminent (e.g., Obama's visit last year), the government will restrict (by about half, I was told) motor vehicle use for a day or two prior, and...viola! That one simple step will make the next few days beautiful!
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