Throwback Thursday takes a look back into Beijing's past, using our nine-year-strong blog archives as the source for a glance at the weird and wonderful of yesteryear.
I have received quite a few fancy umbrellas as presents throughout my time living in Beijing, and they now proudly decorate the shelves of my apartment. If you've been here when Beijing’s summer rain comes, you will know that no umbrella is sufficient in protecting you from heaven’s furious deluge. In inverse but equal measure, the extremely dry weather during Beijing’s winters means that those umbrellas continue to collect dust in the colder months. If you happened to be in the capital back in 2011, you’ll know just how barren our city can get.
That's because 2011 was one of the driest winters on record, seeing the city’s population not only suffer from incessant static shocks and dry skin but also leading to calls for snow production and other water-intensive activities to be staunchly regulated and curtailed. The Beijinger’s blog post from that very period described how the city had not seen any precipitation for a shocking 85 days. That drought eventually stretched to a moisture-sucking 108-day dry spell, coming close to the previous record of 114 days back in 1971.
In the light of the 2011 drought, the Beijing government also planned to crack down on new water consuming enterprises and vowed to decline requests for new golf courses, ski resorts, or bathhouses. Besides these promises, they held educational talks to encourage households how to use water-saving techniques and otherwise minimize H2O consumption.
Beijing is already a far greater consumer than producer of water and back in 2011 was already relying on bordering Hebei province for more than 50 percent of its water supply. At the time, the South-North Water Transfer Project was not yet operational, however since its completion in 2014, it has become a major source of Beijing’s water, providing more than 70 percent of the capital’s water during certain months, according to Xinhua. This high figure may explain why, although Beijing’s current drought stands at 79 days, Beijingers have not been encouraged to reduce their water usage and no special measures to conserve water have been brought in.
We may still be waiting for the city's first snow this winter but on the upside, if it never comes at all, at least we can continue to lead a bike-driven and sludge-free life.
More by this author here.
Images: the Beijinger, South China Morning Post
