The day starts cloudy, a gray veil of smog hangs over Tiananmen Square, the particulate matter values have exceeded the 200 mark on this March morning. Barriers cordon off Beijing’s central square, there is a yawning desertion around the Mao Tsetung mausoleum, and car traffic has also been diverted. Only a few seemingly lost police officers patrol Tiananmen Square, on the west side of which, in the Great Hall of the People, the National People’s Congress has been meeting since this weekend – unmolested by the people.
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