"We want to turn Taiyuan into a civilised place!" So proclaims Yuan Gaosuo, deputy mayor of this grimy industrial city in the north-east of China. At first blush, this seems an odd aspiration. After all, Taiyuan and the neighbouring bits of Shanxi province are one of the earliest centres of Chinese civilisation. Architectural treasures, such as the Shuanglin Si monastery and the Jinci Si temple, abound. Wutai Shan, one of Buddhism's most sacred sites, draws visitors from all over the world. Whatever its other deficiencies, civilisation ought thus to be the one thing that Taiyuan does not lack. Mr Yuan disagrees. When air pollution levels in China's 47 biggest cities were measured in 1999 and 2000, Taiyuan came last. "Without clean air, we simply cannot consider our city civilised," he says. In fact, with pollution at nearly nine times the level deemed safe, Taiyuan probably had the filthiest air in the world. Uncivilised, indeed.
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