Media in China have come out crying fraud and for those responsible to be held accountable in an intriguing case from our very own Jiangsu Province involving the use of fog cannon trucks to ensure that monitoring data meets standards.
在我们江苏省发生的一起涉及使用雾炮车以确保监测数据符合标准的有趣案件中，中国媒体大声疾呼存在欺诈行为，并要求责任人承担责任。
A ubiquitous sight in many Chinese cities over the past few years, fog cannon trucks are a handy tool in combatting atmospheric dust, cooling the streets during summer and helping to nourish urban greenery.
过去几年，雾炮车在中国许多城市随处可见，它是对抗大气尘埃、夏季街道降温和滋养城市绿化的得心应手的工具。
But they have also courted controversy, most famously in early 2020 when they were filmed supposedly spraying disinfectant into the air of COVID-stricken Wuhan. Those images were for many the OMG moment that represented the reality of the epidemic hitting home.
但他们也引起了争议，最著名的一次是在 2020 年初，当时他们被拍摄到在受新冠疫情影响的武汉向空气中喷洒消毒剂。对于许多人来说，这些照片代表了疫情肆虐的现实，令人震惊。
Now, those fog cannons are back in the headlines, in Taizhou City of Jiangsu, where they have been caught red handed, calling in to question the believability of statistics released by the nation’s authorities.
现在，这些雾炮在江苏泰州市再次成为头条新闻，他们在那里被当场抓获，让人对国家当局发布的统计数据的可信度提出质疑。
Along a certain street in Taizhou, it rains 365. Local residents are frustrated, not only because their street is never dry, but because of the noise, as fog cannon trucks even operate during the middle of the night. They also wondered what on Earth was going on.
台州的某条街道，下了365度的雨。当地居民很沮丧，不仅因为他们的街道从来没有干燥过，而且还因为噪音，雾炮车甚至在半夜运行。他们还想知道地球上到底发生了什么。
Then the media came out with it, saying that a driver involved had revealed the same street also happens to have a data-collection point measuring air quality.
随后有媒体爆出，称一名涉事司机透露，同一条街道上也恰好有一个测量空气质量的数据采集点。
Before jumping to conclusions as to a giant nationwide cover up, it is important to note that China has commitments to transparency in the data released by authorities. There are also some harsh potential punishments in place for those attempting to falsify such data.
在对全国范围内的大规模掩盖做出结论之前，重要的是要注意中国承诺当局发布的数据保持透明度。对于那些试图伪造此类数据的人来说，还有一些严厉的潜在惩罚。
As to the Taizhou case, the street in question is located in Jiangyan District. Upon hearing of the scandal, staff with the Jiangyan Ecological Environment Bureau were honest enough, saying that the monitoring point will be moved at the end of the year and that the spraying frequency “will be different than now”, as The Paper has reported.
至于台州案，涉案街道位于姜堰区。据澎湃新闻报道，姜堰市生态环境局工作人员得知此事后，很诚实地表示，监测点将在年底迁移，喷洒频率“将与现在不同”。
Yet, it has also emerged that this is hardly an isolated case. In the past few years, various reports of fog cannon trucks interfering with data monitoring have come out from both central and local governments.
然而，事实也表明，这并不是一个孤立的案例。过去几年，中央和地方政府不断传出雾炮车干扰数据监测的报道。
So have law enforcement and regulatory authorities always acquiesced and indulged in this?
那么执法和监管部门是否一直对此默许和纵容呢？
Just a few days ago, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment jointly released typical cases of falsifying automatic monitoring data in accordance with the law. Therein, it was revealed that guilty parties who come clean as to their acts may receive a “reduction in sentencing on the basis of mitigating circumstances”.
就在日前，最高人民检察院、公安部、生态环境部联合依法公布了伪造自动监测数据典型案例。其中透露，如果有罪当事人坦白自己的行为，可以“根据从轻情节减轻量刑”。
But that the three ministries and commissions also recommend probation to not be an option also sends a clear message; China is determined to hold accountable any illegal and criminal acts which interfere with various pollution-detection data.
但三部委也建议不予缓刑，也传递出明确信息；中方坚决追究任何干扰各类污染检测数据的违法犯罪行为。
