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[HaveAGoodRest]

Starting classes at a university next week and the AQI levels hit 175 last night where I am in Shaanxi Province.

No one around here seems overly concerned with using masks or air purifiers.

I am protecting myself with these items outside of classroom hours.

Anyone have any suggestions about what to do in class?

Figure a mask in the classroom would be burdensome.

But I don't know what else to do besides bring my own air purifier into the classroom, and ask the students and administration to supplement with their own air purifiers, which I kind of doubt will happen

[hz88]

I can understand your concerns. This year has been particularly bad in Shaanxi. There was a few days in early January when the reading was actually above 800, its the worst I had ever seen it in all my time here.

As you say using masks when teaching is not practical and people seem oblivious outside as to the need for them. They just seem to accept the situation.

I don't teach in university but if the AQI is high I insist that the windows be closed as students have a tendency to open them even if it is freezing outside. It is a sensitive subject. Getting the university to provide an air purifier is unlikely, I don't think they would object to you taking one with you but would it be practical to carry it around with you all the time?

You could tactfully mention it but don't be surprised to be met with blank faces, after all it is where they live and they may have issues with you criticizing it.

[The bear]

[Alien abductee]

A reading of over 800? That's literally off the scale!

Instead of getting resentful at a foreigner for criticizing the pollution it's far more likely Chinese locals will agree with them and then stare in bewilderment that anyone willingly (and foolishly) moved to a place with such poor environmental conditions. If they get angry with anyone it's the government for not doing enough to control the smog and the factories creating it. Many locals in these polluted areas would love to be somewhere else, but for them packing up and leaving isn't that easy, so they've resigned themselves to live with it. The best and most sensible way to protect yourself from the pollution? Don't go to heavily polluted locations to work and live.

[HaveAGoodRest]

So I feel like there is not a good solution for teaching in much of China currently in a non-hazardous environment.

It seems like many, many millions will die from this pollution soon in our lifetimes.

I feel like I was misled in coming here. No one told me directly about the outrageous pollution. Yes I knew about the pollution problem beforehand, but coming from America, it seemed to me like it would be an annoyance and just a light health hazard if I just dealt with it for one semester (my contract).

No one from America could imagine this level of hazardous pollution.

I currently feel out of it, slightly lightheaded, and have had a few daytime nosebleeds out of nowhere. In 4 days. And that's on the outside of my body.

So it seems there are two choices:

A) Buy a ton of air purifiers and masks and live a very limited existence for one semester in an area in which no one else utilizes air purifiers, and most of the locals and even the couple of foreigners here are seemingly victims of groupthink and sucking in tons of pollution and doing outrageous damage to their health.

OR

B) Go back to the west. Or at least break the contract and transfer to one of the few lightly-polluted areas of China, if it's even possible to transfer like that.

It's rough because everyone has been so nice and generous, as usual in China. And I would hate to be the bad guy and break the contract.

But at the same time, despite the generosity of the locals, what is most important is my health. To me it seems like long-term health damages may occur from this air even within a few months' time and using the latest preventative equipment when possible.

Uhhhhh China I love you, and you were so good to me the last time I visited you, but this pollution is out of control now.

Breathing on a second-to-second basis is kind of important.

Should I suck it up for a semester or cut my losses?

[rogerwilco]

Opening or closing windows doesn't make a difference in the amount of air pollution.
The air inside is the same as the air outside, unless you are using effective air purifiers inside.

After 8 years in China one of the things that I noticed improving after leaving China was my hearing and sense of smell.
I never would have guessed that the pollution was affecting various senses like that.
Getting random nosebleeds seems serious to me.

[astrotrain]

I rejected 3 offers up North all account of the pollution and colder winters, only looking in the South. Maybe this is why after 7 months I am still trying to find another Econ position. Why take up something for 1 whole year of your time, a contract you cannot easily break unlike giving 2 weeks notice in the West just for some meager wages and maybe see the "great wall" or some nifty futuristic smog covered skyscrapers?

If you want non polluted air, subtropical greenery, open spaces, parks galore, tolerant of all sorts of bugs and critters and mosquito bites and big flying roaches but hot and humid climate where summer extends 3/4 of the year, drink ice tea by the patios etc. only focus on Southern China, particular Guangdong, Yunnan, and Guangxi province. Hainan is impossible to get in but has the best climate and clean air of them all.

Last year in Nanning, Guilin and Guangzhou never felt any bad air or remember one day it was hazy, all those trees and bushes must have sucked up all the car and factory exhausts.

[kona]

[JoThomas]

In the classroom I'd suggest duct taping the windows.. seriously. We have air purifiers in the classroom, but air pollution could seep in from the cracks in the windows. Get a portable air purifier for your classroom like BlueAir or Phillips brand. Get a laser egg (http://originstech.com/products/laser-egg/) that takes a daily AQI reading to check how bad the pollution really is inside. With my school central air purifier and windows duct taped shut, the AQI is only about 20 in my classroom and I live in Beijing, where 175 seems like a dream.

[creeper1]

I understand the op's concern but he should put it in context.

You are a foreigner with a passport, the financial means and the vacation allowance to maybe spend 9 months of the year in China.

The vacation allowance you can spend in a clean air destination.

So you can't deal with something that millions others have to endure from birth with very little possibility of escape?

I say toughen up a bit and see your contract through.

[creeper1]

[creeper1]

[JoThomas]

^I am leaving, but it is still valuable advice in regards to his question.



OP, 175 is not that high of pollution and you should be okay with getting a few air purifiers in your class, if you are that concerned.

[HaveAGoodRest]

OK great. This is all very useful.

Still on the fence about whether I should stay or not.

But if I stay, I will definitely want to rig the classroom with the right equipment.

This seems to be one of those places where 99.9% of the buildings don't have any purifiers (just the gym so far), so I think it will take some spelling out of the benefits.

They told me the school would pay for any textbooks I wanted.

Maybe I can tell them to use that money for air purifiers

[Non Sequitur]