Eric's Beijing Diary

Peking University. You can see some of the of the millions of poplar seeds that fill the air every spring floating on the water. The seeds are so small that you actually end up breathing them in. The city government has been injecting poplar trees to reduce the amount of this airborne "lint." For some reason, this lint doesn't appear every day, just once in awhile. But when it does show up, it can be kinda annoying. It's a strange type of "pollution."

That and the sandstorms mean that spring is usually not as trouble free as the fall season. But I have been here throughout the spring this year; I didn't go to Beihai, and sandstorms have been minimal. I think there was one day that was a bit dusty. So spring in Beijing is quite nice for the most part. Not quite as scenic as the autumn, but pretty none the less. I guess I notice it more this year, because I have been spending so much time at the mountain. The whole area is really turning green now. There is a fair amount of cypress and other evergreen at the mountain, so the area is not completely scrubby even during the winter. But spring still brings a new look. It's so much greener. Started the end of March, but the past couple weeks the whole area has really filled out.