Smog Measures Cut Beijing’s Pollution By 30 Per Cent: China

It has persisted despite the Chinese government’s stated priority of cleaning up the legacy of pollution left from years of full-tilt economic growth. The massive city is surrounded by mountains that help to trap emissions from factories and automobiles-and from the coal-fired boilers that many residents still rely upon for heat.

Ctrip.com, an online travel service, has seen a 20 percent rise in sales of packages marketed under a “Skip the Smog” label to people in Beijing, according to a company spokesman, Shi Kaifeng. Besides, Beijing’s weather comes steady, with weakening cold air, increasing humidity, rallying temperature and increasing temperature inversion. Schools closed and rush-hour roads were much quieter than normal as Beijing’s firs…

A slew of Beijingers said via social media they planned to escape the gloom. However, this, the latest of a series of airpocalypses to hit Beijing, is also a firm reminder of just how much more needs to be done to ensure safe air for all. “It may sound silly but 160 million people watched the last season of Downton Abbey and so there’s just this natural affinity with British products and Britishness”, he said.

By lunchtime today they were down to 22 as moderate winds blew from the north, below even the World Health Organization’s recommended maximum exposure of 25.

In accordance with Beijing Heavy Air PollutionContingency Plan, the heavy air pollution alert is raised from orange to red.

Beijing’s vehicle restrictions? of odd and even number plates will last until noon tomorrow.

Zhang Jingtie, who sells insurance and water purifiers, said she had no choice but to be out despite restrictions through Thursday that have prompted some businesses to close and others to allow employees to work from home. This is Beijing’s first time to start red alert for heavy air pollution.

Health officials are concerned for risky tiny particles in the polluted air known as PM 2.5, which can go straight into the bloodstream. As an example, one Beijing monitoring site at midday showed an index reading of 308 and a PM2.5 reading of 258.

China’s National Meteorological Administration issued an all-time high red alert for smog in the capital on December 7. When municipal authorities announced the red alert on Monday evening, Solis, like many Beijing residents, was caught off guard.

IBM Research will also assist the city of Johannesburg and South Africa’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in modeling air pollution trends and quantifying the effectiveness of the city’s actions to tackle the issue, according to the statement.

However, bad air quality is only part of China’s development story. Extreme pollution levels are recorded in Delhi for eight months a year as opposed to three months for Beijing.