Daily commentary about China by TIME correspondents.

Unlikely Awards Dept.

Ok. Quick. What are the least likely awards you can think of? People are too easy. "And the Nobel Peace Prize goes to.....George W.Bush!" How about cities? Civic Politeness to Hong Kong? Best food to Glasgow (where deep fried candy bars are a specialty)....Anyway, here's a real one:
At the third Air Quality Conference (the ‘'Breathing Summit'') held in Paris between November 9 and 11, an announcement on the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau's website proudly reports, the "adjudicating committee decided ...Beijing... was awarded the Special Prize for Improvements to Air Quality and the third prize for Clean Transport."

You have to wonder what the judges were inhaling when they made this decision. Perhaps they had to sample bottled Beijing air as part of the judging process? But this is too easy a target, so and I'll just leave it there. All are welcome to add to the list of unlikely awards, though...

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