Air Beijing breathes

Is Beijing's air quality still a concern? Some people seem to have underestimated the host city's capability to keep its promise of clearing up its air for the Olympic Games.

Monitoring results show that the city's air quality has reached the required standards in every single day over the past three weeks although it looked misty on some days because of too much moisture in the air and low air pressure.

The blue sky and white clouds for most of the Games' days were irrefutable evidence that the rhetoric about the host city's ability to honor its promise of clearing up its air for the Games was largely motivated. And some athletes were even advised to wear air masks, which have been proved to be a piece of useless advice.