I forgot to mention that on Sunday evening, getting off the bus at Qianmen, I looked northwards across Tiananmen Square, and the benefits of rain were made beautifully clear. The air was in such a perfect state that I could see clearly across the length of the Square and the rooftops of the Forbidden City all the way to Jingshan. And Jingshan looked as close as it really is. After such a murky, hazy, particulate-laden summer, that sight was just brilliant. Even in a regular summer with normal amounts of wind and rain keeping the air generally cleaner than it has been in this awful, wind- and rain-free toxic soup of a summer you don’t get too many days with air as clear and views as shockingly beautiful as Sunday evening and the view across the Square and the Forbidden City to Jingshan.
Beijing is an amazingly beautiful city on those few days when the weather and pollution allow it.
