Fifty shades of grey: smog returns to Beijing after clean-up creates weeks of ‘parade blue’

Beijing woke up to all-too-familiar grey smog on Friday morning after enjoying two weeks of precious blue skies leading up to yesterday’s huge military parade in the capital.

The air quality index measured by the US Embassy in Beijing stood at 158 at 11 am today, classified as “unhealthy”. This was in sharp contrast to yesterday’s reading of 17, meaning good air quality, during the second world war anniversary parade.

The blazing sun yesterday also gave way to blanketing, gloomy clouds on Friday. After a short shower at about noon, heavy rains are expected over the weekend.

The capital, notorious for its air pollution, saw concentrations of PM2.5 - superfine particles that lodge deep inside the lungs and considered most dangerous to human health - at low levels for 15 consecutive days until Wednesday, according to the city’s environmental protection bureau.

Beijing residents, amazed by the city’s superb air quality and beautiful skies, dubbed it “parade blue”.

It comes after “Apec blue”, a term coined to describe the clear skies during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing last November.