"It is clear in Beijing"

As my plane from Shenzhen is about to land in Beijing, they go through the usual "thank you for flying with us," "wait until the fasten seat belt sign is off to get up," and local weather report in two languages. I was not really paying attention, as I was still half asleep, but then as they were giving the English weather report, the flight attendant said "It is clear in Beijing." Now, I did not hear the Chinese report, so I don't know whether they just meant to say " It's not raining," which is true, it wasn't. However, as I looked out my window, it was anything but a "clear" day in Beijing. There was the usual haze that encompasses the city on most days, and i had an inkling that in Chinese government think, "not raining" had suddenly become "clear."

There have been two recent NYtimes articles that relate to this story. The first is about the country's severe pollution problems (here). (now to anyone related to me who reads that story, Beijing isn't as bad as many other cities in China, and one year here won't kill me). The second is about the government's efforts to "beautify" the city in preparation for the Olympics (here), a project which includes getting rid of Chinglish, bad weather, and anything that could reflect poorly upon the city, and thus the country. I find this more than a bit 过分 (excessive), as its the imperfect things about China and Beijing that make the country so endearing to me. (minus the pollution - i would be perfectly happy if the government could solve that problem - actually solve it, not paint over it).