This is a view of the City as we drove towards it by bus. Nice deep breath anyone? Go for a run? This picture of Xian is typical of all of the larger cities in China (Xian has about 7 millions), with a combination of dust, coal burning, crop burning, no emissions control on manufacturing or anything else, much diesel usage, etc. Everyone on the bus had, at one time or another, problems with their breathing and the consistent factor was the pollution in the air.

Problems lie ahead for the 2008 Olympics with the air pollution alone. Probably the buildings and parks will be great, the electricity good, the water and sewer adequate, and the respiratory problems horrible. I would think, however, that from a coordination and security perspective, the 2008 Olympics will be much more organized than the 2004. And probably on time and within budget.