Breezy Dalian

As soon as China's spring winds subside, one forgets the flying bags and fondly remembers blue skies. In their place lurks the grey haze of summer. Breathing takes conscious effort, and even short bursts of activity leave one gasping for air like an interplanetary Austrian going pop-eyed on the surface of Mars.

Crazy how we link all our health efforts to food. You can go weeks without food. Water - a few days, max. Air? Three minutes without qualifies you for a TV variety show. Unlike food, air is almost impossible to get too much of. Wheezy cigar-puffing corpocrats are starving for air.

Pollution-free is only the start of it. The reason you get so negative in offices and bus-choked streets is the lack of negative ions. Air's vitamins , negative ions abound by waterfalls and after thunderstorms, dispelling all but peace and health. Where does that leave the China expat, craving a few days' parole from pos-ion prison? Here are three destinations that will leave you negative in the best way possible.

Mount Emei, Sichuan

The Buddhist significance of Emei alone justifies this trip, cross-culturally. But you don't need to shave your head or chant to obtain inner peace on this holy mountain. Just hike to the top. More than one Emei travel blog jokes about how winded the author was after an hour's climb, while little old Chinese ladies scampered ahead.

Such bloggers know only the shallow, upper-chest respiration of the computer zombie. Had they but breathed from the diaphragm and filled their under-employed lungs, they could easily have kept pace with the geriatric tourists. Moist, mountainous, and loaded with negative ions, the air would have bestowed on them the calm smile of Sakyamuni, without having to pay 500 RMB to write their name in the temple ledger for the un-worldly abbot's blessing.

Dalian, Liaoning

Not that you have to brave sardine-can buses and savage macaques to get a clean chest-full. Those aware of clean air's added value, yet who can't bear the thought of life outside megalopolis, might consider moving to Dalian, a consistent finalist on China's most livable cities lists. The Yellow and Bohai Seas press this rocky peninsula in a constant, watery Malachi crunch, filling the air with salt spray and negative ions.

No wonder Dalian's women are famed for their bright eyes and clear complexions. No wonder its people are known for their optimistic vigor. All the filth of their burgeoning industry is blown off to less fortunate neighbors, while they revel in the fresh air born of crashing surf and constant wind.

Government flaks tout Xinghai Square and Sun Asia Ocean World as reasons to visit Dalian, but they're just kidding. Just walk along a fraction of Dalian's 1900-kilometer coastline. Tiger Beach and Xinghai boardwalk will do for giant Russian and Japanese tour group sightings. But for remote stretches and album cover moments, try Bangchui Island.

Haikou, Hainan

No brainer, this one - sun, surf, and number one on China's air quality index for medium and large cities. Perhaps it's the atmospheric activity of hovering on the edge of the torrid zone, combined with strong sea winds. May to October, monsoon season, is a great time to go: you should be so lucky as to get battered by torrential rains, then crawl out from cover into the post-storm stillness, the air as clean and crackling as the Garden of Eden's.

Even when dragged away from the beach on obligatory shopping junkets, you'll notice the difference. Here alone in China open-air markets are not misnamed, lacking the claustrophobic stuffiness of other bazaars. You'll truly enjoy the pungent odors of Bo'ai Lu, balanced as they are by copious oxygen. And it doesn't matter how badly you mis-order at the restaurant. The sea air hones appetites blunted by sugar and salt, sharp enough to dig into chicken feet, duck blood, and parts of fish alley cats turn their noses up at.