Changes

==Environment==

==Environment==

The rapid growth of population, motor vehicles and factories has created one of the highest pollution levels in the world.  Days with gray, acrid skies, with an eye-reddening pollution score over 400, are common, as health officials advise wearing masks and staying indoors. Heavy trucks are allowed in only at night but their diesel fuels create much of the problem. By 2008 for the city’s 12 million residents, pollution was not only an inescapable health and quality-of-life issue, but a political issue tied in with the Summer Olympics scheduled for August 2008. The city's bid for the 2000 Olympics was rejected in 1993 because of high pollution levels, and in response the city began a massive cleanup campaign.  That campaign has been successful in terms of 2000 standards, but the city's economy is 2.5 times larger now, with millions more people. Over 3 million cars and trucks clog the streets, and 400,000 more are added annually as the wealth shoots up rapidly.  Old dirty, coal-burning furnaces have been replaced, lowering the city’s sulfur dioxide emissions. Factories and power plants were changed to burn cleaner, low-sulfur coal; sulfur dioxide emissions fell by 25% 2001-2007, even though much more coal is burned, reaching 30 million tons in 2006. Furthermore, fine-particle pollution has been exacerbated by a staggering citywide construction program which saw more than 160 million square meters (1.7 billion square feet) of new construction begun 2002-2007.  Athletes may have some breathing problems, but in the long-run air quality is expected to remain a critical issue as the city grows to a projected population of 20 million.<ref>Jim Yardley, "Choking on Growth: Beijing’s Olympic Quest: Turn Smoggy Sky Blue," [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/29/world/asia/29china.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin ''New York Times, 29 Dec 2007]</ref>

The rapid growth of population, motor vehicles and factories has created one of the highest pollution levels in the world.  Days with gray, acrid skies, with an eye-reddening pollution score over 400, are common, as health officials advise wearing masks and staying indoors. Heavy trucks are allowed in only at night but their diesel fuels create much of the problem. By 2008 for the city's 12 million residents, pollution was not only an inescapable health and quality-of-life issue, but a political issue tied in with the Summer Olympics scheduled for August 2008. The city's bid for the 2000 Olympics was rejected in 1993 because of high pollution levels, and in response the city began a massive cleanup campaign.  That campaign has been successful in terms of 2000 standards, but the city's economy is 2.5 times larger now, with millions more people. Over 3 million cars and trucks clog the streets, and 400,000 more are added annually as the wealth shoots up rapidly.  Old dirty, coal-burning furnaces have been replaced, lowering the city's sulfur dioxide emissions. Factories and power plants were changed to burn cleaner, low-sulfur coal; sulfur dioxide emissions fell by 25% 2001–2007, even though much more coal is burned, reaching 30 million tons in 2006. Furthermore, fine-particle pollution has been exacerbated by a staggering citywide construction program which saw more than 160 million square meters (1.7 billion square feet) of new construction begun 2002–2007.  Athletes may have some breathing problems, but in the long-run air quality is expected to remain a critical issue as the city grows to a projected population of 20 million.<ref>Jim Yardley, "Choking on Growth: Beijing’s Olympic Quest: Turn Smoggy Sky Blue," [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/29/world/asia/29china.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin ''New York Times, 29 Dec 2007]</ref>

* Dong, Madeleine Yue. ''Republican Beijing: The City and Its Histories'' (2003) [https://www.amazon.com/Republican-Beijing-Histories-Studies-Global/dp/0520230507/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198983219&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]

* Dong, Madeleine Yue. ''Republican Beijing: The City and Its Histories'' (2003) [https://www.amazon.com/Republican-Beijing-Histories-Studies-Global/dp/0520230507/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198983219&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]

* Geiss, James. "Beijing under the Ming (1368-1644)," Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1979.

* Geiss, James. "Beijing under the Ming (1368-1644)," Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1979.

* Gaubatz, Piper. "Changing Beijing." ''Geographical Review'' 1995 85(1): 79-96. Issn: 0016-7428 Fulltext: [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0016-7428(199501)85%3A1%3C79%3ACB%3E2.0.CO%3B2-C in Jstor]; [http://www.questia.com/read/5001655651 online edition]

* Gaubatz, Piper. "Changing Beijing." ''Geographical Review'' 1995 85(1): 79–96. Issn: 0016-7428 Fulltext: [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0016-7428(199501)85%3A1%3C79%3ACB%3E2.0.CO%3B2-C in Jstor]; [http://www.questia.com/read/5001655651 online edition]

*  Harper, Damian, and David Eimer. ''Lonely Planet Beijing City Guide'' (2007) [https://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Planet-Beijing-City-Guide/dp/1740598423/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196697149&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]

*  Harper, Damian, and David Eimer. ''Lonely Planet Beijing City Guide'' (2007) [https://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Planet-Beijing-City-Guide/dp/1740598423/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196697149&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]

* Li, Lillian M. et al.  ''Beijing: From Imperial Capital to Olympic City.'' (2007). 336 pp. [https://www.amazon.com/Beijing-Imperial-Capital-Olympic-City/dp/1403964734/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196697072&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]

* Li, Lillian M. et al.  ''Beijing: From Imperial Capital to Olympic City.'' (2007). 336 pp. [https://www.amazon.com/Beijing-Imperial-Capital-Olympic-City/dp/1403964734/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196697072&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]