From busy cities to peaceful nights, noise pollution affects our health more than you might think.
Let's dive into how China is turning down the volume and turning up the quality of life.
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Coming to you live from Beijing, this is Roundtable.
I'm He Young. For today's program, I'm joined by Steve Hatherly and Li Yi in the studio.
First on today's show.
Ever feel like the city's volume is cranked up to 11?
With all the city hustle, bustling traffic and industrial noise, it's no wonder our years are feeling the stress.
China's been on a mission to tackle this invisible menace with some pretty effective noise control strategies.
What's new on the noise -busting front?
And how is it making life better for us all?
Well, Li Yi, please enlighten us on the key findings in China's 2024 Noise Pollution Report.
Sure. Well, this is a report released by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment just recently.
And according to this report, in 2023, the overall daytime noise control rate of urban acoustic environment function areas was 96 .1 % and nighttime noise control rate reaching 87%, which really suggests that we have achieved improvements compared to the previous year.
And meantime, the report also mentions for the first time, a national network of acoustic monitoring coverage was rolled out in acoustic environment function areas across most cities and counties in China.
Now, a term, acoustic environment functional area, really stands out.
Yeah, please tell us what that is.
That really sounds like damming.
So well, this is actually a classification of different noise control policy or different noise standards in different areas.
So this category is used to organize areas based on their specific functions.
And then we have different required noise levels.
So there are five categories, five levels from level zero to four.
The purpose is to ensure that each area makes particularly noise standards, creating a proper environment for both living and working.
For example, category zero really refers to areas that require exceptional quiet, such as rehabilitation and rest areas.
And then we have category one, areas used for residential, healthcare, education, research functions, where a quiet environment is crucial.
And then category two, are areas used for commercial trade or mixed use, such as residential plus commercial.
And in these areas, we need to ensure residential quietness.
And meantime, we also have level three, which are areas focused on industrial production and warehousing, where controlling industrial noise is a major task here to protect the areas.
And then we have the last category is areas nearby, major transportation routes, where controlling transportation noise is the most important thing.
Things like bus stations, train stations, airports, things like that sounds confusing, right?
Compliance rate of urban acoustic environment function areas.
But basically what they're doing is that they're measuring how loud places are, how quiet places are, and they have a standard for the amount of noise that they want for particular areas.
And they're finding success there, 96 .1 % and 87 % that shows success.
Right. And also we tend to get into the nitty gritty of things because we want to make it clear for you guys.
And also we want to let you know that there are these comprehensive standards out there set up by the national government, which means that there's actually a lot of attention that goes into studying these situations and coming up with a framework, which kind of evaluates the situation.
And this all goes in line with the 14th five year plan in our country, which is...
Yeah, that's 2021 to 2025, I guess that would be.
Yes, coming up soon.
Yeah, exactly. So they set goals and they're trying to reach those goals.
Noise pollution is not something that we talk about very often, right?
But it's an important thing for big cities all around the world.
And it wasn't always this case in China back in 2015 from the annual noise prevention report.
Then they looked at 308 different Chinese cities.
They underwent noise level measurements that year.
And about a quarter of the cities around 25 % were found to be quote unquote too loud during nighttime.
Yes. And also I was wondering what were the major sources of noises when they look at this, I mean, a quarter of cities were too loud.
And that's just to refer to a noise complaint survey also in 2015, also released in this annual report.
In 2015, there were 354 ,000 noise related complaints across China.
That represents over 35 % of all environment complaints.
And of these complaints in 2015, over half of them were about construction noise.
And then 21 % are social activity noise, meaning outdoor KTV, square dancing.
These are social noises.
Outdoor KTV. Yes. There might be some - For our listeners who don't know, KTV is like a singing room, right?
It's like a karaoke type thing.
But outdoor? You can just think of it as an outdoor singing machine in some parks or nearby residential areas.
So this can also be disturbing for residents to be nearby.
And also besides the social activity noise, nearly 17 % were related to industrial noise.
And then there's 12 % of traffic noise.
So these are major sources of noises that are disturbing people in the year of 2015.
And meantime, there's also a very interesting geographical difference when it comes to noise complaints.
Actually, the eastern part of China accounted for nearly 60 % of the complaints.
Well, the western, central, and the northeastern regions had fewer complaints.
So this might suggest that the more developed economically this region is, the noisier it is.
That's really interesting.
I wonder if the next stage of development would be that the more developed and advanced a place or region tends to be, then maybe the slightly quieter it could be then now.
I'd be surprised if that was the direction.
Li was talking about some geography here in Beijing.
So on the western side, it's kind of like a suburban area, residential, not the downtown area at all.
On the slightly eastern side of the city, that's where there's the major downtown area and a lot of nightlife areas there.
I don't know if the traffic's worse in that area, but it's a busier, a busier place.
And I think that's probably why the noise levels are higher there.
Yeah, that usually is the case.
And when you look at Beijing, it's really difficult to say downtown or whatnot anymore.
Yeah, it's too big.
Because it's too big.
And then there are like multiple...
There's 12 downtown centers of activity.
And yes, you can probably envision that when there's a lot more economic activity going on, people might be going out more, and there may be a late night activities going on, and people are spending, enjoying their time, and it becomes a little bit noisy.
And that's the case for many, if not every big city around the world.
If you look at the downtown area of Toronto or Vancouver or New York City, Manhattan is, they call it, what, the Big Apple, the city that never sleeps.
So you'll find that there too.
Yeah. And this reminds me of, we tried to do some interviews on the internet during COVID, and we had this interviewee all the way in New York City.
And it was difficult to do the online interview because there was constantly this noise of fire trucks or ambulance or whatever it is from New York City, from Manhattan.
New York City. I think if you removed that noise from Manhattan, New York City residents might feel awkward because the noise will be gone, it'd be too quiet.
Yes. And guys, how loud is really too loud?
Well, they put out, the WHO, the World Health Organization, has a look at this, and they have their own recommendations.
And what they say is that noise exposure levels should not exceed 70 decibels over a 24 -hour period or 85 decibels over a one -hour period.
So that's to avoid hearing impairment.
But people living in big, busy urban areas, they can be exposed to noise louder than that.
To put that in a context for you, so they say 70 decibels, where would that fit in, in the range of sounds?
Well, rustling leaves, it's fall season now, so rustling leaves, that's about 20 to 30 decibels.
Thunder at night, if you hear some thunder, that's about 120 decibels.
Fireworks would be 140.
But if you're looking at 70 decibels, that's around the sound of a washing machine or a vacuum cleaner.
Nobody vacuums outside at night, but just that same level of noise.
And also here in China, we set the limit to be 55 decibels for residential areas during daytime and 45 decibels in nighttime.
And meantime, I think the frequency of this noise or sound and also the pattern of the sound appear, it can also be determined in terms of how disturbing it is for people living nearby.
For people to get a good night's sleep, the WHO says around 30 decibels or less in bedrooms during the nighttime.
So take all of that information into account when you're trying to figure out how loud or how quiet your area or your neighborhood is.
Yeah. And 55 decibels, which is like the daytime limit that Li Yi mentioned just now, you can think of that as a normal conversation has the sound level of between 60, around 60 decibels.
And so, yeah, slightly louder.
Well, yeah, slightly less than that would be 55, or which is pretty quiet, right?
If a normal conversation is around 60 and the standard here in China is a little bit lower than that.
How about for you guys, your neighborhoods, what would you say is the decibel count at night if you had to guess going by these standards?
Is it pretty quiet outside?
Do you get a lot of street noise from cars or construction at night?
Well, I'm really lucky that my neighborhood is a very mature one in the sense that it has pretty much been built the way it is almost 20 years ago.
So we don't really get much construction, definitely no industrial noise, but it's a real bummer when your neighbor is redecorating.
And then I suppose this is something a lot of people, regardless of where you're at these days, if you live in an apartment building, this is something you'd be thinking about.
Because if somebody, let's say even maybe two floors away from you up or down, you could possibly still hear something.
And they're doing this at nighttime?
Of course not. Thankfully, but that's really great in the sense that before the regulations were in place.
So when I was a kid, I remember my mom had to go banging on people's doors, not necessarily at the middle of the night because construction workers need to rest as well.
But let's say this was like 20 years ago, like maybe even during dinnertime and then your neighbor could still be doing construction.
But that is no longer the case now because we have strict regulations and rules on when is the appropriate time for even home renovations to happen.
And it has to be adhered religiously.
Otherwise, oh, you're going to get angry neighbors.
That's interesting to know.
So I thought it was just kind of etiquette that people did that stuff in the daytime.
But there are rules in place that you're not allowed to do that at night.
Would that be rules within the apartment complex itself?
Or are those rules citywide that are put in place?
I think it's a nationwide policy.
So so decoration can can only be operated during time between 8 to 12 and also 2 p .m.
to 6 p .m. That's during weekdays, but you are not really allowed to have this decoration work during weekends.
So I was I remember when I when I was doing this decoration for my own apartment, a policeman in the local community actually came to my door and told me about this regulation, saying that you should not really have your short decoration, although you are not you are not really doing this.
But I'm just trying to notice you this policy.
And also for my residential area, I agree that it really depends on which building or where the location of your residential building located.
And for my apartment, we don't really experience a lot of noises surrounding the building.
But meantime, I do have a neighbor living upstairs who is an elderly man.
Here it comes. Yes.
So he has been using this walking stick, but walking stick, walking stick from 6 a .m.
in the morning to like 2 p .m.
No, no, no. 10 p .m.
during nighttime. But to be honest, that's not so disturbing to me because I'm not really so sensitive to noises, but that can be too disturbing for my husband, who is also very sensitive to noises and sounds.
When I lived in Korea, a lot of apartment complexes in Seoul and other cities as well.
One of the big issues for families living in apartment complexes is if they have children.
So if they live upstairs, what they'll do a lot of the time is they'll buy.
I don't even know how to describe it.
It's almost like padding for your floor, like styrofoam.
And then you put it on the floor because the kids are jumping.
Always running around and playing.
My fists just got firmer.
There is a lot of disputes, shall we say, about apartment in apartment noise in Korea.
People complain about that a lot.
Please just add another personal anecdote.
This was more than 25 years ago when I was living in New York City.
And then we had this we were renters, obviously, we had this neighbor upstairs.
And I remember my family was baffled by this kind of lifestyle that is he comes back to the home at 10 p .m.
and starts working out until maybe midnight.
And then we couldn't understand that.
But now look at China these days with busy office workers, it's common for people who want to work out at night because that's the only time they can find.
But it actually becomes a real nuisance for their neighbors.
And a lot of disputes do happen.
And trying to find a way to work it out is another thing that is happening, too.
But also, I'd like to check with you guys.
What does noise pollution do to our health and well -being?
Is this noise pollution really that big of a deal?
Yeah, it's a bigger deal than I think we realize.
And it leads to problems that aren't that obvious, I think.
This is from CitiesToday .com.
In 2022, there was a U .N.
Environment Program report that declared urban noise pollution one of the world's top emerging environmental threats.
I found that to be really quite surprising.
Again, to reference the World Health Organization, they've classified traffic noise, road, rail, air as the second most significant cause of ill health in Western Europe behind only air pollution.
So that report was about Western Europe.
But if we use that as kind of a cross -section of the world, I still think it's representative.
And why, the researchers say, is because of increased incidence of coronary artery disease and stroke.
Also, there's a serious impact on those living with autism and other developmental conditions.
It's difficult, of course, to monitor sounds on roads and to distinguish what's causing what sometimes.
Is it the train? Is it the plane?
Is it automobiles? Is it people?
Those are tough things to measure sometimes.
But yeah, it causes health problems with people, too.
Yeah, and also besides being harmful to our human beings, actually those noises can also be impactful for our other friends also living on this planet, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
In 2020, for decades, actually, marine life has been bombarded by underwater noise pollution from ships, air guns, drilling, recreational boats, and construction work, as well as military and fishing sonars.
So this can also be affecting other creatures living in this planet.
So that's why I think it's really important to discuss about this noise pollution, because too often, I think, compared with air pollution, which has already been talked a lot of times by people worldwide, noise pollution isn't.
So I think this phenomenon deserves more attention as well.
And when we're talking about air pollution, if it gets really bad, then you see, let's say, the smog or other effects that's visible in nature or in the environment.
But with noise pollution, I can't think of a tangible way that it sort of shows its physical form and becomes, oh, a major alert for people.
And then when it's actually really harmful to your hearing abilities and to all these different aspects that you have mentioned in our well -being.
So what measures has China taken to control noise pollution in recent years?
Well, first of all, we do have a noise pollution law.
China's first launched its law of controlling noise pollution in 1997, and the law forms the core of China's approach to managing noise pollution, and it was updated in 2022.
And meantime, I think there are different measures being taken across China, I mean, by different cities.
For example, I think we just mentioned transportation noise.
Actually, a very, I would say an emerging noise pollution was a motorcycle noise pollution in recent years in major cities, especially here in Beijing.
I mean, the Shogang Park, the Shogang Bridge, used to be one of the major city places where experienced motorcycle street bombing, where you can see a lot of motorcycles.
They just are in the streets with really high speeds and loud engine noises.
Yeah, would that be at night, late at night, a lot of the time?
Yeah, do you know why that is?
I mean, I'm not sure here in China, in Beijing, but in other cities around the world, there's a nighttime motorcycle culture, and the reason people ride their motorcycles at night is because there's no traffic, so it's more fun, because the streets are emptier than they are during the daytime, and it's
safer as well, but that's great for them, but not great for the people who live in the areas where they're riding.
That can be too disturbing, and actually, according to China's noise pollution law, that's not allowed, actually, because a lot of motorcycles, I mean, the owner of a motorcycle, they have, I don't know, changed the internal equipment of a motorcycle to make it louder and quicker, so I'm really happy
to see a lot of measures have been taken.
I think here in Beijing, policemen, they have been monitoring alongside the streets during nighttime, and also in Shanghai, the city has issued a policy, motorcycles that generate more than 80 decibels of noise are banned from the roads between 9pm and 6am, and that's how we're dealing with transportation noise,
I think. Yeah, definitely.
I remember when that regulation first came out, at least for the Beijing area as an example, some people were waving goodbye to the fast and furious underground culture, but for most folks, it's like, yeah, this is what we would like.
We would want some safe and peaceful nights, everyone.
Yeah, they had the same issue in London back in 2020.
There was one particular residential district in the city, and they got a lot of nighttime complaints from supercars and motorcycle engines.
Yeah, supercars at night.
Oh my goodness, what a disturbance, right?
So yeah, the 473 people who submitted their complaints, 90 % were about revving engines frequently at nighttime.
So what they did, the council responded to complaints, and they put four noise cameras in the area.
It cost the city about almost 100 ,000 US dollars to put that in place, but apparently it works.
They ticket people now if they're caught with excessive noise, they charge them 100 pounds, it's a fixed penalty, and they did that to try to solve the problem.
Right, and here in China, we've seen that increasingly there's more public awareness and also demand for quiet in some public areas.
And then we see the notion of quiet residential community.
Ningxing Xiaochu is considered as a great thing, maybe even a selling point for residential apartments as such.
So these residential areas are labeled as such.
What I mean by that is it's known.
So if you go to a real estate agency in the area, they'll say this is a quiet residential community.
All the residents are aware of that.
Well, this is something maybe still a little bit niche, but it's worthwhile for everybody to know that this is actually something that's been carried out in China nationwide.
And also the promotion of quiet carriages.
We're talking about the railway here, and this is quite the improvement.
And I wonder if this is something to do with a little bit more publicity and sort of public information campaign towards the end of or towards the direction of having more of these quiet carriages.
Because in the past, I think people didn't used to expect these public places to be all that quiet.
It was supposed to be bustling and busy or whatnot.
But now you see more and more people.
Oh, maybe those who are on the high speed rail from Beijing to Shanghai, which is apparently the mobile workplace, do check out that previous show on our podcast that they want this quietness.
And maybe this is something of an improvement for our society.
But also I remember when going to the well, when going to Japan, they actually have this culture of not picking up phones in the carriages in the subway or on the train.
So I guess there is this, I guess what's acceptable, the general agreement, the unsaid, tacit agreement in society when people deem what is appropriate of a level of noisiness in these public areas.
