Ocean University: Class with a Sea View

This is the view from my classroom. Oh, those lines at the top? Rays of unadulterated sunlight. Qingdao's environment is probably the opposite of what people expect from a bustling Chinese import city.

However, it would be negligent to not mention the extent of China's pollution problems. Using the Air Pollution Index, also called the Air Quality Index, the World Bank recently labelled 16 Chinese cities part of the 20 World's Most Polluted Cities. There are also regional pollutants, for example, Tianyang in Anhui province is the core of China's lead mining industry. Tianyang's concentration of airborne lead is up to 10 times the national health standard, leaving hundred of thousands of residents to suffer the effects of lead poisoning.

People say that there is an app for everything, and a quick search of the itunes store revealed that currently there 4 apps available with up-to-date monitoring of China's regional API. Quite telling is that you can set it to send you notifications if the situation changes. It advises you on the suitability of playing outdoor sports, or recommends that today you should wear a mask. These apps seem to be based on the US EPA's scale, where above 300 is hazardous, and 500 is the maximum measurement. It also uses a colour scale, so when I glanced at a map on a friend's iPhone, I was struck by the overwhelming red that covered China like a pox.

Even though Qingdao continually avoids the hazardous end of the scale, there is a noticeable difference when the wind carries air from inland over the city. A haze settles over scenery, normally clear mountains sit shrouded in fog, and there is an urge to clean one's glasses in the hope that the nearby buildings once again have sharp outlines and crisp colours. At night the moon looks as if it has been drawn by yellow pastel, then smudged into the surrounding black sky. Yet, I must stress, these conditions have been rare here. On the whole, Qingdao is a pleasant city blessed with a comfortable climate and natural beauty, that its residents love to boast to every foreigner.  

Although there is another view of Ocean University that needs to be described; Ocean University has "security" guards, although they are little more than parking attendants. They sit in a porters lodge opposite the gate, and dry their laundry beside it on washing lines. So the first thing you see when you enter the University is a pair of red undergarments drying in the breeze. I can't see the Trinity porters ever taking up this practice.