Dust and face masks
- Joined: Sep 2nd, 2006
- Posts: 1,859
I park my scooter for 2 hours, come back and the seat is covered with dust. Disgusting is the air that we breathe here!
I'm seriously considering wearing the Michael Jackson style face mask. Or a bandana (looks cool, like a cowboy! yeeeehaa!).
Are there any foreigners here that wear a face mask on the street?
It's better to be nice, kind, generous, friendly, helpful, sexy and rich than to be obnoxious, scary, stinky, stingy, lonely and poor.
ocpaul20
Re: Dust and face masks
Not me, but then I try not to go out much.
I dont think there is a way around this crap and dirt floating about in the air. Particularly when there is so much building going on, smoke from the coal fired heating (the ones that havent been changed to gas yet), general toxic fumes from factories, exhausts, diesel soot, etc etc.
Remember everything has a pay-off and so maybe the money is greater (for some) here in china but the conditions and life expectancy is less. We all have a choice to try and find a job somewhere cleaner if it gets too much.
To quote H.L. Mencken...
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
New Year - New Hat.
hfuccino
Re: Dust and face masks
Hear hear, who's up for starting www.thatsantarctica.com? Anyone in? I hear the opportunities are snowing in!
Your brother from another mother
bomholt
Re: Dust and face masks
I have been wearing face mask when bicycling from Chaoyang Park to Guo Mao - getting a lot of 'stupid laowai' looks from fellow bicyclists, but couldn't care less (who is the smarter one...
).
Have not seen any good masks around, not even in the areas with high expat density or in stores usually catering to foreigners, so ordered mine online from www.respro.com. Pricey, but worth it.
lostinspace
Re: Dust and face masks
I like to play alot of football over here and you really can't wear any darn masks for that...argghh
sometimes during a break I light up a cig just for some fresh air.. 
"Your swartz is almost as big as mine" Space Balls
Martin
Re: Dust and face masks
Here's the solution:
shizo
Re: Dust and face masks
Seems like that would definately protect me from dust and everything else!
In that case, watch out for a foreigner with a condom on his head (me).
It's better to be nice, kind, generous, friendly, helpful, sexy and rich than to be obnoxious, scary, stinky, stingy, lonely and poor.
ditchwitch27
Re: Dust and face masks
+++++
'Thinking I'm a moron gives people something to feel smug about,' Charles Wallace said. 'Why should I disillusion them? '(A WRINKLE IN TIME)
+++++
Milo
Re: Dust and face masks
Yup,
I wear them and I don't give a """"" (You know, I'm from Brooklyn, I should be able to at least type that).
Anyway, B&Q (UK equivalent of Home Depot) has good, comfortable contractor grade particle masks, pretty cheap.
"F'em if they can't take a toke"
Ruff!
admin
Re: Dust and face masks
I was thinking of starting a line of fashionable, functional dust masks. Kind of with that snowboarder neck warmer esthetic (instead of simply wearing a white mask like you're fresh from the tuberculosis ward). What do you think?
Follow thebeijinger on weibo! http://weibo.com/tbjmagazine
shizo
Re: Dust and face masks
I will submit designs if you're serious.
It's better to be nice, kind, generous, friendly, helpful, sexy and rich than to be obnoxious, scary, stinky, stingy, lonely and poor.
Patrycia
Re: Dust and face masks
:shock: you are really scaring me... What about others cities in China??
hitme
Re: Dust and face masks
If you're really serious about getting a good, solid, well-made mask, Respro brand masks are awesome. Highly recommended. Great for biking since you're a bit closer to the exhaust from cars and you're breathing a bit heavier than if you were walking. But yes, you'd need to order it from www.respro.com, as mentioned earlier.
A closed mouth gathers no feet.
shizo
Re: Dust and face masks
Tai gui le!
It's better to be nice, kind, generous, friendly, helpful, sexy and rich than to be obnoxious, scary, stinky, stingy, lonely and poor.
ahugreycat
Re: Dust and face masks
hey guys, it is not that bad, don't panic, now in BJ biggest part of pollution derives from car exhausts. Stay away from the big ring roads during traffic hours in morning and evening, wear a mask, we are in China, you couldn't care less about how people look at you while you are in this country:) You can buy M3 mask, they are thicker and in-expensive in bigger pharmacies. You be fine. Now they also sell masks made of cloth with funny prints, you buy a couple and wash them regularly, and you even are fashionable. You can see a lot of Asian students wear them in Haidian and Hepingli. Anyone to join in opening a shop selling masks?
Ahu
shizo
Re: Dust and face masks
I started wearing a mask. I look stupid, but i don't care.
I live in between Chaoyang and Chaoyang Bei street, near hutong that burns lots of coal. So for me, it's VERY relevant to wear a mask.
And by the way, if i take it off on the street, i immediately feel the huge difference.
It's better to be nice, kind, generous, friendly, helpful, sexy and rich than to be obnoxious, scary, stinky, stingy, lonely and poor.
admin
Re: Dust and face masks
Post-use dissection of dust filter. I used it for the past two mornings, walking outside. 4 hours total usage time.
I bought these filters for 16 kuai each at Beijing United. They can, for sure, be found cheaper elsewhere and if you buy in bulk.
1. At left: 3M™ Particulate Respirator 8210, N95, New.
At Right: 3M™ Particulate Respirator 8210, N95, after I used it for a total of four hours over two consecutive days in Beijing.
2. Filter cut in half.
3. First outer gauze layer peeled away, exposing main exterior filter.
4. Main exterior filter cut away, showing second layer.
5. Second layer peeled away to show inner layer. Thankfully, looks clean -- so at least the major shmutz didn't make it to my lungs.
CONCLUSION: WEAR A F*ING MASK
Follow thebeijinger on weibo! http://weibo.com/tbjmagazine
shizo
Re: Dust and face masks
Those masks should cost like, 1 mao, considering they're not reusable and they're just pressed pieces of paper with plastic straps.
Make sure you get one with a nose band though. The doctor masks are really useless because they don't apply to your face tightly and most of the air leaks in unfiltered.
Social standards are so fickle.. when I posted this topic 2 years ago foreigners would feel embarrassed walking around with masks in Beijing. And now everyone is joining in on the fun, like a big friggin' communist family!! Good times!
It's better to be nice, kind, generous, friendly, helpful, sexy and rich than to be obnoxious, scary, stinky, stingy, lonely and poor.
jack_dee
Re: Dust and face masks
Shizo, the reason the masks you mentioned do not work is not just because of the air gaps. Breathing through cotton does not stop the inhalation of sub-micron (0.3 to 0.9 diameter) particulate matter; and no, it is not "better than nothing" by any means, it is just a ridiculous spectacle.
They are almost as amusing as the people who push one nostril close, as if that will have any effect, or the people who put their palm over their nose, as if that too also has some magical effect of telling the air to piss off, 'no entry, not tonight love.'
jack_dee
Re: Dust and face masks
Feeling a 'huge difference' is psychological, which is why most people do not walk around with bad coughs here in Beijing, and simply breathe as normal. Getting yourself worked up into a panic is hardly going to help, sounds like someone should be reading up on the psychological effects of worry.