China bashers turn blind eye to progress

"The sky is falling," cried Chicken Little. Flustered critics of Beijing's Olympic preparations are echoing the same nonsensical alarm. Doomsayers were recently huffing about the Beijing dirty sky issue and claimed the air quality in August would not be fit enough for athletes. These worry warts are jumping at shadows and are in for a clear-sky surprise come opening ceremony.

I'm not saying Beijing is perfect. Far from it. Some Beijing days are downright ugly. Smog can blanket the city, thanks to the millions of cars pumping their toxins into the air, and there is factory smoke adding to the problem.

But Beijing's pollution woes are being addressed and pale into insignificance when compared to London's Great Smog of 1952. More than 12,000 died as a result of the five-day catastrophe. The city's undertakers ran out coffins. Ten years later, London suffered another "Big Smoke" and scores more people died, forcing the British government to pass the clean air act.