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Comment by nothrabannosir | Hacker News Reader

Is this a submarine PR ad for the Chinese government? Not to take away from the objective positivity of the actual facts, but it feels eerily cheerleady. Almost childish, if nothing else… I count at least five pointless “ha ha look who’s laughing now” and “China is leading the world” in this, and a surprising lack of counterbalance. Perhaps I’m just seeing things?

But yes: great.

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I think you are seeing things. China is mentioned because they had the worst pollution problems, seriously invested in electric, and are now realizing the payoff. The numbers support the narrative.

Shenzhen resident here. Every time a large petroleum vehicle goes past I hear it. On the other side of the block there is a bus depot - totally silent - all Shenzhen buses and 50% of taxis are now electric. It's great.

Has there been an improvement in air quality or have the changes been too small to have an impact as yet?

Haven't been here long enough (~12 months) to anecdata that, but it's generally recognized that government policies are increasing air quality rapidly in many major cities. Example policies: routinely spraying water on the roads in dusty areas and near construction sites, banning motorbikes from city centers, banning the import of second hand vehicles, encouraging electric vehicles, moving polluting industries away from population centers, increasing industrial regulation, reducing opportunities and increasing penalties for corruption. I have a German friend who builds air quality monitoring systems for export here and he said that restaurant kitchen air vents are actually one of the worst urban air polluters now. Another is construction. He said India's cities, especially Delhi, are literally off the charts (sensors incapable of registering pollution levels that high) and that, compared to India, China has things well under control.

> banning motorbikes from city centers

Dirty thing people miss about motorbikes. Better mileage, but not as much as you would think, in return for a lot more emissions. That said I'm lead to understand that electric motorcycles and bicycles have become very common in China.

Larger motorcycles, like Harley Davidson, use the same size engines as compact cars, like the Honda Fit. And they make a lot more noise dong so, which is part of the marketing for them.

Will automakers start putting "engine speakers" on electric Harley Davidson motorcycles and playing engine noises through them?

You’re probably right. Perfunctory research into the author reveals a focus on clean energy, and very few articles at all about China.

I’ve become paranoid about astroturfing.

I think the general consensus is that, politics aside, China is leading the world in many things now. Certain people, even sometimes Americans, seem to experience some schadenfreude that the US is being displaced in so many categories.

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