Taking the temperature to discover why Beijing is so cold this year
Prior to the Yuan Dynasty, an earlier city occupied a site close to the Yongding, but when Dadu was laid down in 1267, it was built northeast away from the river. Water, just like today, was a major challenge for Beijing is a city with a rainfall deficit - not enough rain to match demand.
The story of water engineering through the Yuan and into the Ming is legend. Considering technology then available, the achievements were incredible. Canals, some following earlier stream courses, allowed water to flow into Dadu while also providing navigable channels for boats to bring essential food supplies north from the well-watered southern regions. Many of those early waterways still exist in Beijing, some such as the Liangmahe and Xibahe today making pleasant walking and cycling corridors. Indeed just north of Dongzhimen, several historic water channels merge directly below where the elevated section of the Airport Expressway interchanges with Erhuan (No 2 Ring Road). A few minutes walk south is the Beijing Water Museum occupying the site of the Qing Dynasty Beijing City Water Supply Company founded in 1908.
Recently, efforts to supply the city with water have witnessed major engineering feats. The South-to- North Water Diversion Project is the largest of its kind ever undertaken. First proposed in 1952, construction finally launched in 2002, two of its three major planned channels became fully operational in 2014. Vast quantities of water, from the abundant Yangtze, now flow north to help supply cities such as Beijing.
Understanding the relationship between climate and weather can be a very complex science. However it is important to appreciate for it can be easy to upset the delicate balance of nature that allows sustainability for all of us inhabiting this planet. It may feel very cold this winter in Beijing but the global temperature trends are going upwards. The long term consequences surely concerning. Weather gives but it also takes. It brings us essential rain and warmth for growing crops but it also can deliver devastating typhoons, floods, droughts. It has to be both respected and understood.
During my three decades involved with China I have witnessed, indeed photographed, so many progressive environmental improvements nationwide. Much today is world leading, such as electric traction replacing steam and diesel power across its expanding railway system. In my early days, coal was universal for heating, cooking and electric generation resulting in polluted atmospherics. Today in Beijing, pollution is rarely discussed for this is a city increasingly experiencing some amazing, indeed intense, blue skies.
The topic of "too cold today" will within a few months surely replaced by "too hot"! Meanwhile, let's enjoy the winter across northern China. Beijing certainly is looking beautiful, despite the low temperatures. A perfect opportunity for photography and winter fun.
