WBUR Podcasts, Boston. Everyone has an interesting story in China. Many of those stories involve trauma, and unfortunately it's untreated. Sometimes it's the untold stories that say the most.

It's Friday, May 15th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBUR.

I'm Chris Bentley.

Scott Tong has been in China this week, along with President Trump. We've been bringing you some news from Trump's talks with President Xi Jinping. But Scott's been exploring a bit of

China beyond the diplomatic cables. And in some ways, it's a different country than it was

when he lived there in the late odds. Scott, it's a different country than it was when he lived there

in the late odds. Scott, it's been 16 years since you lived in China. And the cities that you've

been visiting this week, Beijing and Shanghai, they've changed physically just a ton in that time,

haven't they? What struck you going back? You know, what strikes me is a little less

kind of the buildings, and there are some super impressive buildings in each of these cities,

but in Beijing, what struck me was the absence of the pollution. When I landed in Beijing a week

ago, the sky was blue, and that was remarkable.

Beijing long had a reputation for just the air was awful.

A lot of Americans, foreigners, a decade ago left because of asthma, because their kids were getting sick.

There was heavy industry here.

There were sandstorms coming.

Something happened in Beijing to make it so

much better now. A lot of the cars are now electric. That's got to be part of the, part of the issue.

They don't burn as much coal to make electricity. So the city has really improved people's

lives in that particular way, in a way that I just

found remarkable.

Now, today, it's gray again.

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