Chinese choke on "blue sky" irony

This WSJ article describes China's (specifically, Beijing's) air pollution woes, and sheds a hazy light on both the new, developed-world sort of problems the world's most populous nation faces and on its government's slowly evolving response to them.

How ironic it would be if they had continued to call high-pollution days "blue sky days," while the people all died off of respiratory-related illnesses. China's acceleration of development will require equal acceleration of environmental stewardship or they risk massive catastrophes, the air quality of Beijing being just a taste of what's to come.