# Plot point in Spaceballs (Chinese line up for bags of fresh air) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 3, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-point-in-spaceballs-chinese-line-up-for-bags-of-fresh-air/685253 "2014-04-03T14:54:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-point-in-spaceballs-chinese-line-up-for-bags-of-fresh-air/685253/1 "2014-04-03T14:54:09Z")
Was reading CNN and this article struck me as an instance of Hollywood indirectly nailing something in real life (sort of). **Warning, open spoilers about the movie Spaceballs coming up.** In the movie Spaceballs, one of the plot points is that the planet of the evil empire side is running out of fresh air so has to steal it from another planet. They use a giant space transformer (from star ship to MEGAMAID!) to accomplish this. At any rate, during the movie, one of the scenes has the evil president opening a can of fresh air after telling the press that there would be plenty of air for the planet for decades to come. And on CNN, we have [this](http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/03/travel/china-air-bags/index.html?hpt=hp_c4)…people in China lining up to get bags of vacuum sealed fresh mountain air. > [@](#): > > Chinese residents line up for bags of fresh mountain air > > Whatever the motive behind the event, it made for some powerful images of some China residents’ desperation for better air. > > Making the media rounds this week are photographs of residents of Zhengzhou, the capital of China’s Henan Province, lining up for a chance to breathe fresh mountain air via sealed bags. > > Some of the more heart-tugging photos were of parents and grandparents fixing the masks on children’s faces so they can have a few rare sniffs of the fresh O2. > > Zhengzhou is one of China’s worst cities for air pollution, ranking 10th in a Greenpeace list of the country’s most polluted cities in 2013, which used official data from the Ministry of Environmental Protection. > [@](#): > > The company brought in 2,000 cans and 40 bags of air that had been vacuum packed in Laojun Mountain, also located in Henan Province. > > “A TV crew came to Laojun Mountain to test the air and found it unbelievably good and we had the idea of doing this to promote tourism to the area,” sales and marketing officer for the park Khurram Zhang told CNN. > > Known for its fresh air, the mountain was designated a national nature reserve in 1997, and sits 120 kilometers away from the nearest city of Luoyang. > > “We collected 2,000 cans of air from She Shen Ya (a cliff on Laojun Mountain) early last month and we gave them out in multiple locations as a marketing campaign. It was gone in 20 minutes,” said Zhang. > > “We’ve launched two more events giving away air from the mountain. There will be more free fresh air coming in the future.” ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-point-in-spaceballs-chinese-line-up-for-bags-of-fresh-air/685253/2 "2014-04-03T15:08:12Z")
> [@XT](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > The company brought in 2,000 cans and 40 bags of air that had been vacuum packed in Laojun Mountain, also located in Henan Province. 😕 How do you vacuum-pack air? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-point-in-spaceballs-chinese-line-up-for-bags-of-fresh-air/685253/3 "2014-04-03T15:11:44Z")
Gods know. 😛 ETA: It’s like the dehydrated water where you just add water to rehydrate it. ---
**Author:** ![Obnoxious\_Hood\_Ornament](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3be4f8/32.png) [@Obnoxious\_Hood\_Ornament](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obnoxious_Hood_Ornament)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-point-in-spaceballs-chinese-line-up-for-bags-of-fresh-air/685253/4 "2014-04-03T16:25:34Z")
If they keep this up, I may have to change my luggage combination. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-point-in-spaceballs-chinese-line-up-for-bags-of-fresh-air/685253/5 "2014-04-03T16:47:16Z")
[Oxygen Bars](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_bar) have been around for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-point-in-spaceballs-chinese-line-up-for-bags-of-fresh-air/685253/6 "2014-04-03T17:10:41Z")
I went through Zhengzhou last September, and its air quality was really bad. Permanent overcast of smog, like LA from decades back when I was a kid. Or like Beijing. I work at a chemical plant, and the air here is easier to breathe. So, not too surprised that bags of fresh air have some appeal there. However, I was also up in the mountains near Hangzhou, and there was smog there, too. So not sure how clean that mountain air would have been. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-point-in-spaceballs-chinese-line-up-for-bags-of-fresh-air/685253/7 "2014-04-03T17:14:38Z")
That will be on the next Cracked List of Bullshit Stories that were Picked Up by the Media. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-point-in-spaceballs-chinese-line-up-for-bags-of-fresh-air/685253/8 "2014-04-03T20:06:32Z")
Not much point in breathing Chinese air. You’ll just need to breathe again half an hour later. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-point-in-spaceballs-chinese-line-up-for-bags-of-fresh-air/685253/9 "2014-04-03T20:30:01Z")
I’m just wondering how much extra pollution was generated in the process of bagging up the mountain air. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-point-in-spaceballs-chinese-line-up-for-bags-of-fresh-air/685253/10 "2014-04-03T20:55:23Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Gods know. 😛 ETA: It’s like the dehydrated water where you just add water to rehydrate it. [Bernard Dehydrated Water](http://02varvara.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/01-dehydrated-water-just-add-water.jpg) .