Olympic Trials for Polluted Beijing

In its application to host the Olympics, China outlined more than 50 measures to improve environmental conditions. Beijing officials have been moving rivers and mountains since. Chunks of mountains in the northwest were blown up and the soil was moved to grow trees and greenery elsewhere. A river from a neighboring province is being redirected into Beijing to supply extra water.

About 190 steel, cement, chemical, paper and other factories have been dismantled piece by piece and moved away from the city and surrounding areas. Nearly 680 mines in the vicinity have been shut down. Some 4,000 buses and 30,000 taxis with high emissions were retired, and the government is discouraging driving.

A big question has been whether industry and construction around Beijing will be shut down during the Games -- a move that experts say would go a long way toward improving air quality, at least temporarily, but that corporations oppose.

Capital Iron and Steel, one of Beijing's largest polluters, recently announced that it would operate at "minimum levels," rather than close, setting off worry that other plants may follow its example.

Some gestures are small and gimmicky. The Chinese are using recycled paper to build desks in the Olympic Village, and they're stripping menus of dishes based on threatened wildlife, such as shark fin soup.

Other steps involve time and money. The Beijing municipal government has pledged $13 billion for environmental cleanup and protection.

Crews have been working seven-day weeks for more than five years to make sure major construction is completed this fall, so dust can settle before the athletes arrive.

Beijing is planting three walls of trees around the city that include cypress, Chinese scholar trees, magnolias and Dragon spruces -- nearly 100 species. These green barriers not only change the look of Beijing but also defend against the desert, said Wang Sumei, deputy director general of the Capital Forestation Commission.

On a recent weekday afternoon in the city's northwestern Haidian district, Zhang Xuanxing was directing a team of 20 workers planting trees in an area already full of them. Their goal that day: add 150 myrtles, with their distinctive white blossoms.

"The goal is to beautify the environment and clarify the air," said Zhang, 55, quoting one of the countless slogans Beijing has been promoting. In all, by the time the Olympics begin Aug. 8, 2008, 300 million trees will have been planted, some on tops of buildings.

According to internal Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee documents described to The Washington Post, the city hopes to increase clean-energy usage in homes fivefold, make sure 80 to 90 percent of streetlights around Olympic venues are solar-powered and nearly double the capacity of the subway.

Even with the improvements, however, environmental experts say they have mixed feelings.

Some steps the city has taken are only stopgap measures, akin to hiding the dirty laundry in the closet before guests arrive. "Moving factories outside of Beijing doesn't mean much for solving China's environmental crisis," said Sun Shan, director of Conservation International in China.

Particles in Beijing's air are still 40 to 50 percent worse than in Los Angeles, the most polluted city in the United States. Fu Lixin, director of the Air Pollution Research Institute at Tsinghua University, who is advising the Beijing government, said that if pollution is severe, Olympic events could be put off until later in the day or even moved to another venue. The government is prepared to take radical measures such as seeding clouds to create rain, clearing the air.

"Time is too short," he said. "I don't think it's realistic for Beijing to meet international standards of air pollution. But people should know the whole city is supporting and trying their best."

Staff researcher Wang Juan contributed to this report.