you a-hole just can't stand something good happening in china!!!
what about the great smog of london in 1952? it was just a wake up call. the city had lived in smogs for a very long time and until the biggest one hit the city. it took london almost took two decades to fix that. merely half century ago, the thames river was declared (officially) biologically dead, though treatment was start early last century...
agreed. china has very long, arduous road to it should be. but england? i had been there quite a few times during the period of 2003~2006 (stayed few months every trip for projects) and really felt that country is going down, slowly but surely. the best part of london just can't compare to the best part of shanghai or beijing, in terms of hardware for public and business. of course one can't compare those tourism spots since it would be like comparing oranges to apples...
to my surprise, london was quite dirty, especially those non-touristy spots, behind those fancy buildings..