I'm glancing through the slideshow of the Beijing Opening Ceremonies where they shoot off all the fireworks into the disgusting, smog filled "air" above the Olympic Stadium, and I'm very much surprsied that the place didn't spontaneously combust what with all of the ridiculous chemicals filling the space between solid objects like people and buildings and walls.
Watching the local news coverage on television, the beautiful sky above Beijing is a very dull white with patches of industrial fire. It looks like it could be a million degrees there. They measure in Celsius there, so it's probably more like a billion degrees to you and me.
Here's a fun fact: The population of China is estimated between 1.2 billion and 1.4 billion. The population of the U.S. is estimated around 300 million. That means that, at any given time, two thirds of the U.S. could move to China and there's a strong possibility that nobody would notice.
Stew on that for a bit.