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Beijing Mayor Calls Smog 'Unlivable'

Published January 30, 2015 at 1:12 PM EST

A heavy smog hits the city on November 25, 2014 in Beijing, China. (ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images)

With tourism down and dangerous levels of smog clouding the horizon, Beijing Mayor Wang Anshun has declared it “not a livable city,” according to the China Youth Daily newspaper.

Here & Now’s Lisa Mullins speaks with Will Philipps, a U.K. expat and marathoner who has lived in the Chinese capital for three years and monitors the pollution daily to avoid exercising on “unhealthy air” days.

He ran the Beijing half marathon last October in smog levels 16 times above World Health Organization’s safe level.

Guest

Will Philipps, U.K. expat and senior editor at That’s Beijing, an expat magazine. He tweets @willphilipps.