Living Like a Local: What A Chinese City Really Looks Like

As I step outside, my throat fills with phlegm. The thick smog pierces my lungs and lingers at eye level. At first I thought all this spitting was culturally customary. Now I realize it’s a national necessity. Nothing outside a one-block radius is crisp. The buildings in the distance are only a faint shadow, their lines blurred by the effluvium.