魔境夢遊：時光怪客 (Alice Through the Looking Glass)

An Air China passenger aircraft flying amid heavy smog over the suburb of 北京 (Běijīng), China, on January 2, 2017. Photo: Reuters/Jason Lee/File Photo.

答案在风中飘荡 (Blowin’ in the Wind)

Or maybe not. A Chinese government-backed study, published last month in the journal Global Change Biology, tracked the growth rates of six aspen trees in 北京 (Běijīng) between 2012 and 2015, when the city was shrouded in one of its densest ozone fogs. The scientists’s conclusions are astonishing: 北京 (Běijīng)’s air pollution helps its trees grow better, faster, and stronger.

北京 (Běijīng)-based artist 王智远 (Wáng Zhìyuǎn) created a 36 foot tall towering tornado sculpture – called “Thrown to the Wind” – from hundreds of plastic containers discarded as trash. Photo: inhabitat.com.

天气预报 (Weather forecasting)

China has already set a record for concentrations of lung-damaging ozone in June, rising 11 percent from the same month last year, but the Ministry of Ecology and Environment warned on Tuesday, July 17, that it expected ozone pollution to be particularly high in the region surrounding 北京 (Běijīng) over the next 10 days.

Buildings are seen amid smog on a polluted day in 北京 (Běijīng), China on April 2, 2018. Photo: Reuters/Stringer.

Houses in the Clouds

Skopje, Macedonia: Buildings break through low cloud over the city. Photo: Robert Atanasovski/AFP/Getty Image.