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> Many of us laowai in Beijing get depressed in the winter because of the poor air quality. I'm confused about the implication here. Are westerners (laowai) m

by Volpe 14y ago

> Many of us laowai in Beijing get depressed in the winter because of the poor air quality. I'm confused about the implication here. Are westerners (laowai) more prone to getting depressed from poor air quality? Chinese (native/migrant) aren't affected?

harlanlewis 14y ago
There's surely some degree of acclimation that has much to do with how much time you spend outside. It makes sense a foreigner who (I assume) can hole up on bad days would feel the grodiness more acutely.
seanmcdirmid 14y ago
I'm sure someone from Kunming moving to Bejiing would get depressed also, but someone who grew up in northern China might just see it as normal. Depression often has to do with standards and expectations, not necessarily the situation itself. Edit: or to say, its about the relative situation between the past and present. If the present has been stable, good or bad, then you won't get into a funk. For example, say you fly economy your whole life, its not great, but you are perfectly happy with it, then one day you get magically bumped up to business...and oh my god you can sleep on your 9 hour flight! But you can't afford to ever fly business again...so you get depressed whenever you fly economy.
bbuffone 14y ago
As a westerner in beijing, i think everyone is affected the same by air pollution, though the difference is the "choice" of being here vs. not. You can see first hand the difference between the Beijing sky and that in Boston. http://sdrv.ms/10T8oof http://sdrv.ms/10T8oof I feel more depressed in the summer time when the air pollution is high. In the summer, the pollution feels smothering and then the oppressive heat of the city can be overwhelming. In the winter Beijing somedays just feels smokey.
- seanmcdirmid 14y ago
  Beijing summer high AQI is nowhere near winter high AQI! Summer, you have rain, wind, and all the nice stuff that blows out the pollution. Summers in Beijing just feel bad because its hot and muggy + some pollution mixed in. We are all affected the same sure enough, but our* expectations might be higher since back home we think "90" is high, when in Beijing that is almost a clean air day. The rest of north and central China is pretty much the same, while the southerners and definitely the westerners (like, west of LanZhou) will complain about the AQI in Beijing just as much as the foreigners do. * There are many countries with problems as bad or worse than China. If you come from one of those countries, then Beijing might not seem so bad.
  - bbuffone 14y ago
    Agreed, about the pollution levels. My personal view is that the summer is far more depressing (heat, muggy, pollution) then the air in the winter. After 3 years in beijing, most Beijing people talk about the pollution far less, than housing prices, getting a Beijing hukou...
    - seanmcdirmid 14y ago
      When we foreigners get together, we talk about pollution and the GFW since most of us don't hope to buy a house or get hukou :)

by Volpe 14y ago

harlanlewis 14y ago

There's surely some degree of acclimation that has much to do with how much time you spend outside. It makes sense a foreigner who (I assume) can hole up on bad days would feel the grodiness more acutely.

seanmcdirmid 14y ago

I'm sure someone from Kunming moving to Bejiing would get depressed also, but someone who grew up in northern China might just see it as normal. Depression often has to do with standards and expectations, not necessarily the situation itself. Edit: or to say, its about the relative situation between the past and present. If the present has been stable, good or bad, then you won't get into a funk. For example, say you fly economy your whole life, its not great, but you are perfectly happy with it, then one day you get magically bumped up to business...and oh my god you can sleep on your 9 hour flight! But you can't afford to ever fly business again...so you get depressed whenever you fly economy.

bbuffone 14y ago

As a westerner in beijing, i think everyone is affected the same by air pollution, though the difference is the "choice" of being here vs. not. You can see first hand the difference between the Beijing sky and that in Boston. http://sdrv.ms/10T8oof http://sdrv.ms/10T8oof I feel more depressed in the summer time when the air pollution is high. In the summer, the pollution feels smothering and then the oppressive heat of the city can be overwhelming. In the winter Beijing somedays just feels smokey.

seanmcdirmid 14y ago
Beijing summer high AQI is nowhere near winter high AQI! Summer, you have rain, wind, and all the nice stuff that blows out the pollution. Summers in Beijing just feel bad because its hot and muggy + some pollution mixed in. We are all affected the same sure enough, but our* expectations might be higher since back home we think "90" is high, when in Beijing that is almost a clean air day. The rest of north and central China is pretty much the same, while the southerners and definitely the westerners (like, west of LanZhou) will complain about the AQI in Beijing just as much as the foreigners do. * There are many countries with problems as bad or worse than China. If you come from one of those countries, then Beijing might not seem so bad.
- bbuffone 14y ago
  Agreed, about the pollution levels. My personal view is that the summer is far more depressing (heat, muggy, pollution) then the air in the winter. After 3 years in beijing, most Beijing people talk about the pollution far less, than housing prices, getting a Beijing hukou...
  - seanmcdirmid 14y ago
    When we foreigners get together, we talk about pollution and the GFW since most of us don't hope to buy a house or get hukou :)