Beijing smog ‘worst of the year’

Air pollution in Beijing reached hazardous levels on Saturday as smog engulfed large parts of China despite efforts to clean up the foul air.

While the orange alert is in force, the city will ask some factories to suspend or limit production and for construction sites to stop transporting materials and waste, the bureau said.

While Chinese President Xi Jinping joined other world leaders in Paris for climate talks, schools in Beijing kept children indoors, highways closed and factories scaled back work because of thick, smelly smog that cut visibility to mere metres in the Chinese capital on Monday.

Readings of the tiny poisonous PM2.5 particles reached into the high 600s micrograms per cubic meter through the capital, as compared with the World Health Organization safe level of 25.

The U.S. embassy in Beijing reported 666 micrograms of harmful PM2.5 particles per cubic meter.

Authorities blame coal burning for winter heating as a major culprit for the air pollution.

“Everyone should avoid as much as possible to get out”, even healthy people, advised the official website of the Chinese weather service.

“With this level of pollution, government should really consider stopping all classes at middle and primary schools”, said Mr Ma Jun, the Beijing-based founder and director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs. The northern city, located in Hebei province neighbouring Beijing, was the most polluted city in China in the first half of 2015, according to the country’s Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Beijing yesterday maintained the orange smog alert that was first raised in the capital on Sunday morning.

China has set aggressive targets for reducing emissions in the coming decade, and the ruling Communist Party has vowed to tackle the massive environmental problems that came with its emergence as an industrial power.

Air quality worsened on Friday and deteriorated throughout the weekend.

“The air pollution is all-encompassing, and it requires both the government and individuals to shoulder the responsibility to clean up the air”, Liu said. For most of that month, persistent smog shrouded the capital.

Officials say that the heavy smog will continue until Wednesday when a cold front will move in from the west to help disperse the pollutants, allowing Beijingers to once again see more than 100 yards in front of them.