Public transport or private vehicles?
At first, I used to think Chinese people were tolerant and took their own measures to protect themselves against the health hazards of foul air, but I have come to realize that meekness is a weakness: the more the Chinese pedestrians do to filter the suspended particules in the air with the help of face masks, the less the motorists have to do. It is a free ticket for them to pollute the air.
In Europe in the wake of the petrol shortages in the 1970s people learnt to live without cars and motor bikes. Governments banned motor travel on certain days. The air was miraculously cleaner. Today while more people own cars fewer travel routinely. Many more commute by public transport. China is going the opposite way: more and more people driving their own motor vehicles. Not out of need - but because cars are status symbols.
Seneca from the US
