Freddie and I are sitting in our two-person flat in the Wudaokou (五道口) district of Beijing, where we have been living since the 24th August, and we have little intention of going outside today. The 'Air Index Quality' has risen to 220 ('Very Unhealthy' on the US Embassy website: http://tinyurl.com/BJ-air-quality ), but we need only to look out of our 16th-floor window to see the gravity of the situation. We can barely see the buildings opposite and the moun...

After a hectic flight last night from Hong Kong, where I spent a week, I have finally arrived in Beijing and met up with my coursemates Freddie, Charly and Lucy at Heyuan Hostel, where we intend to look for a four-person flat. Despite the hostel's striking Qing-Dynasty architecture it was almost impossible to find. An impatient taxi-driver told me it was "in the Hutong," pointing at a modern driveway, before giving me too little change and driving off, leaving m...