【2023.4.13 China／Japan／South Korea】
“Hundreds of millions of people collectively eat soil”: the sandstorm chaos spreading from China to Japan and South Korea
“Hundreds of millions of people collectively ‘eat the soil’, and the promised desertification prevention and control are useless?” China’s sandstorm has swept through again. Since April 11, including Beijing, at least 18 provinces in China have been shrouded in yellow sand. The Air Pollution Index has broken the table in serious levels. This wave of sandstorms has been brought all the way to Northeast Asia. Sandstorms have been observed from north to west in Japan. The visual scene of Tokyo’s foggy scene has also given Japan the frightening title of “the worst level of yellow sand”; South Korea on the Korean peninsula was also deeply affected by this wave of dust storms.
This wave of sandstorms in China started in March. By April, China’s Central Meteorological Observatory successively issued sandstorm warnings. After April 11, it expanded to the Northwest, North China, and Northeast China. At least 18 provinces in China were affected by sandstorms. As a result, big cities such as Shanghai and Beijing are filled with yellow sand and foggy scenes.
Taking Beijing as an example, in the past, February and March were the seasons with the worst spring air quality in Beijing, and May was also the season with high incidence of sandstorms. The continuous routine of floating catkins in the moon and eating soil in May”-however, this year 2023 is “early eating soil”. As of April 13 this year, there have been 8 sandstorms, compared with the number of times in the same period in the past. Slightly more frequent (usually an average of 5 to 6 times per year).
The China Central Meteorological Observatory pointed out that although the dust weather will slow down by April 12, another wave may strike around April 12, affecting areas ranging from Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Gansu to Shanxi, Hebei, Liaoning, and Beijing. , Tianjin, Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai… and other major regions, some places such as Anhui, Hubei, etc. have successively seen the PM10 (suspended particulate) index break the table. Beijing issued a sandstorm warning at the same time. On the 12th, Beijing’s air pollution index also reached the “serious” level. One Chinese netizen taunted on Weibo:
“Beijing is now seriously polluted by both PM2.5 and PM10, and the sandstorm is serious. Last night I saw that PM10 was directly off the charts. At the same time, the concentration of pollen is also very high. It belongs to a three-dimensional magic attack.”
The most recent severe sandstorm in Beijing was the “strongest sandstorm in 10 years” that occurred in 2021. The whole city was shrouded in yellow sand, and the visibility in some areas was even less than 800 meters. At that time, public opinion in China was confused: Why do you feel that the impact of sandstorms is getting more and more serious? Are the series of protective forest measures formulated by the Chinese government lacking in effect? In the same year, the Dunhuang shelterbelt forest was deforestation, and it was relocated to plant grapes to develop the wine industry, resulting in a significant shrinkage of forest land. The controversy caused the Chinese people to question the shelterbelt policy for mitigating sandstorms.
This year’s sandstorm phenomenon has spread all the way to Northeast Asia, and Japan and the Korean Peninsula have directly felt the invasion of yellow sand in the near future. In Japan, including Tokyo, there are also Sapporo, Sendai, Niigata, Nagoya, Hiroshima, Osaka, Fukuoka, Takamatsu, Kagoshima, etc. From the north to the west of Japan, dust weather has been observed, and the visibility in most areas is lower than 10 kilometers, and the Japan Meteorological Agency continued to issue reminders, asking the public to pay attention to the safety of traffic entry and exit.
In South Korea, also due to the impact of the sandstorm, the air pollution index doubled and soared, and 17 cities and roads across the country issued smog warnings. At the same time, Korean media such as “KBS” mentioned terms such as “sanddust originating from Inner Mongolia, China” in the impact of this wave of sandstorms, but was used by the Chinese state-run media “Global Times” as an article, accusing South Korea of ”hyping up sandstorms” Originated in China”, the Global Times accused on Weibo:
However, some South Korean media hyped it under the title “Sandstorm originated in China”, and even described it with inflammatory words such as “causing disaster” and “originating like hell”. Previously, relevant authorities in China have repeatedly reminded that many sandstorms originate outside China, and China is only a “passing station”, and all parties should avoid hype.
Disputes between China and South Korea over air pollution were not uncommon in the past. In March 2019, a record-breaking smog problem occurred in Seoul, which led the then-ruling Moon Jae-in government to directly accuse “China is the culprit of air pollution.” China has always regarded this as South Korea’s blaming China, which has evolved into an online war of words between Chinese and South Korean public opinion, mocking and attacking each other.
Although Chinese officials have emphasized on the issue of the wave of sandstorms in 2023 that “China attaches great importance to sand prevention and control and desertification control, and has achieved remarkable results, and sand and dust weather has decreased significantly in recent years” – but whether the actual results are true, Chinese public opinion is not No doubt or confusion. On Weibo, WeChat and other platforms, some Chinese netizens wondered why the sand and dust problem is still serious despite the protection forest project advocated for many years, or a large number of afforestation?
The Central Meteorological Observatory’s statement on this issue believes that the “windbreak and sand-fixing” function of the shelterbelt has already achieved a considerable degree of effect, mainly because the shelterbelt has a better suppression ability against blowing sand or floating dust close to the ground. However, in dusty weather like high altitudes and atmospheric circulation, the role of shelterbelts is relatively ineffective. Faced with such weather phenomena, what is needed is not only shelterbelt projects, but also multiple levels of environmental protection such as desert restoration and conservation.
In the face of the sand and dust that is getting more and more emotional every year, netizens on China’s Weibo wrote helpless self-deprecating words:
“Every time a sandstorm comes, many people complain. In fact, this is wrong. If you think about it carefully, a sandstorm is not necessarily a bad thing. Because usually your boss and leader eat abalone and lobster, and you eat pancakes and pickles, and the sandstorm comes. When we were young, no matter we had money or not, we all had to eat sand together. Therefore, sandstorms have contributed to equality to a certain extent, and we should welcome sandstorms.”