I spent time in Guangzhou it was pretty heinous as well, Shenzhen too. Then Chengdu and Chonqing aren't great either. I don't know what your saying about wan chai and causeway bay, at night, through traffic hauling arse I think it would be better then doing NYC. Might not be your cup of tea but man I can't wait. You probably wouldn't ride a track bike through shanghai either but you'd be missing an incredible time.
Shutting down the industry is going to do squat. Beijing is so full of lies, I love how they take the pollution readings in Beijing, they seed the clouds cause a rain shower and take the readings immediately after the rain shower so the water has washed out most of the particulate matter. I'm not an "elite endurance" athelete by any means, but I'm definately in better shape then most people and I could barely breath after a week in Beijing. I can't imagine what the actual elite atheletes will do. China is such a farce when it comes to anything the government says, they are very good at making money and polluting their country in order to make that money but man oh man are they going to pay in twenty years when the cancer starts to hit.