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"Red Heart Moon" a WEST MEETS EAST China Weblog -- by Kevin Hart
Cross-cultural musings about life straddling the Pacific.
last modified Jun 16, 2004 at 17:43
The date today in China is August 7, 2006, and for the past three days (count'em), the notoriously "Foggy City" has seen some of the most spectacular and phenomenal weather I have experience here to date.
Usually, there is little to no wind, and the geography of the area leads it to earn the above nickname, called "Wu Du" in Chinese. But over the past few days, the sun has shone brightly, the humidity has been down, and a light wind has been constantly blowing off the smog/fog allowing for spectacular views of the city rarely seen. The blue skies, tropical breeze, and fluffy cloud cover remind me more of Hainan island or even an Ontario summer scene than anything from SW China's largest industrial city.
We will enjoy it while we can!!
PS. Today is September 12, and I had to read the above entry and chuckle with an air of resignation. This blog entry was written a few days into what turned out to be a searing drought that affected most parts of SW China, and in particular, our fair city of Chongqing. While it was clear and sunny every day, it was fiercly hot for nearly 6 weeks with not a drop of rain to be seen. Rare clouds were viewed floating by. There was a recurring wind like the hot blast of a giant hairdryer set on low. Temperatures often toppled the 100 degree F mark (40C), and the government went to great lengths to "Resist Drought". That meant cutting back on water usage, improving energy efficiency as much as possible, and opening all the tunnels and caves (hide-outs for air raid refugees during WW2) for common citizens to cool off in.
While many farmers suffered with crop losses and the deaths of many domestic animals, the cities coped fairly well, and life was not disrupted in too rude of a manner. When the mercury finally dropped in early September, the front page headlines on all the newspapers read, "Goverment Proclaims Drough Resistance Campaign a Smashing Success!"
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