China air pollution
 

I have seen a number of postings addressing the pollution in China but none in the last 5 years. We are going in late June, part land travel, part cruise. My husband is asthmatic and carries medication and inhaler.
Has anyone been recently, ie last 6 months, who can tell us what to expect?

it would help if you were specific about locations????

I can only speak to my experiences in Shanghai, Nanjing and Beijing. I have been traveling to China since 2008 and spent three months in the country last year.

As an American acoustomed to clean vehicle exhaust pipes and clean industrial plants, I was shocked at the high degree of air pollution, especially in the Nanjing area. If you hsve respiratory issues, it does not seem like a good place to visit.

Is the pollution level different at different times of year? We will be traveling in October/November. I am also concerned as my husband has episodes of asthma.

Late winter and early spring is the worst for northern China, due to the dust storms blowing from the west. Visibility can be down to nothing, and it can definitely be a problem for those with respiratory diseases. Summer usually is a bit better, but when I was in Beijing last July/August; it's still much worse than I've ever seen anywhere in the US, and I've lived in Houston and LA.

We have not been to China since 2009 -- but way back in November 2004 we spent a month in China (Guangzhou and Shanghai) and in January 2009 we spent 3 weeks in Hangzhou and Guangzhou. I have severe asthma and allergies. I met with my allergist before traveling and he recommended: continued with my allergy shots prior to travel, doubled my antihistamines 2 weeks prior to travel and throughout my trip, took stronger inhalers with me, took prednisone pills with me. I always travel with an allergy pillow cover and my own pillowcase. Even with these precautions, in 2004 I had to go buy a new pillow in Guangzhou (the hotel reeked of smoke and mildew) and then had to sleep almost sitting up and with a filtering face mask on. I felt on the brink of an asthma attack the entire time on that first trip in 2004 and it really slowed me down. I took the peak flow meter with me and measured my lung capacity. I never got to the point of needing the prednisone. We also took antibiotics with us, since both husband and I contracted some type of upper respiratory issue. Of course I also had an epipen with me. Finally, we had the list of western/international medical facilities in the cities that we traveled to. Both trips were for adoptions, so we had no choice of where we went or how long we stayed there.

In 2009 it was not as bad, though I don't know why. We definitely stayed in more modern hotels in 2009 (less mildew, dust and smoke). We are planning to travel again in spring of 2013 to visit the town one of our daughters came from. I look forward to hearing other reports as well.

BMarieL