Mad as Hell Communists
The Chinese Communist Party are not happy. They have been trying to cover how horrendous the air pollution is in China.
Stop the Truth Getting Out
The US Embassy in the capital was monitoring it to tell US citizens. As a good and modern government, the US sees its jobs as informing and protecting its citizens.
The Communists hated this. They tried get the Americans to stop. They guessed that well educated Chinese people would find out where to find out how bad the air pollution really is.
How Do You Hide This?
They were seeing the reality (see below) and the Communists did nothing to protect their people.
China Daily’s report on the government’s response is well worth reading.