Adam Minter, Columnist

Beijing Sky’s Fifty Shades of Gray

January 15, 2013 at 10:46 PM UTC

Adam Minter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the business of sports. He is the author, most recently, of “Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale."

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The week of Aug. 4, 2008, began with a gray haze hanging over Beijing. This was a problem. And as we saw in recent days, China’s leaders are still struggling to solve it.

On the evening of Aug. 8, 2008, the Summer Olympics were scheduled to open. Since being awarded the games in 2001, the government had repeatedly promised that the city’s notorious air pollution would be solved in time for the first events.