Smog in China
© China Foto PressAs well as health issues, heavy smog in cities such as Jilin is creating serious security concerns for authorities.
Last month the smog in China made international news when state media agencies ran whitewash stories about the countries pollution problems. The state media said that the smog actually had many benefits and that it bolstered national defense by creating a hazy target for enemies.

Now the government and state media in China has switched up their stance saying that the smog is a threat to national security. This recent change of heart is due to the fact that the governments spy cameras in the streets are having difficulty snooping on local citizens.

Kong Zilong, a senior project engineer with Shenzhen Yichengan Technology and an expert in video surveillance technology, said the security devices that could function in heavy smogs had yet to be invented.

"According to our experience, as the visibility drops below three metres, even the best camera cannot see beyond a dozen metres," he said.

Of course, the government is intent on finding a way around this issue.

Professor Yang Aiping, an expert in digital imaging with the School of Electronic Information Engineering of Tianjin University and leader of the civilian team, said that "most studies in other countries are to do with fog. In China, most people think that fog and smog can be dealt by the same method. Our preliminary research shows that the smog particles are quite different from the small water droplets of fog in terms of optical properties."

"We need to heavily revise, if not completely rewrite, algorithms in some mathematical models. We also need to do lots of computer simulation and extensive field tests." she said.

Professor Zhang Li, an image processing expert with the department of electronic engineering of Tsinghua University, said the researchers might have to think out of the box.

"On the smoggiest days, we may need to use radar to ensure security in some sensitive areas," he said.

In other news, the police state in China is slightly inconvenienced.

Source: South China Morning Post