Smog-hit Beijing slapped with top ‘fog’ alert for second day

The Chinese capital issued its highest red fog alert for a second day on Wednesday (January 4), keeping highways closed in and around the city which is already under a smog alert after weeks of choking winter pollution.

China’s weather bureau warned of visibility of less than 50 metres in some areas of Beijing, leading many airports to cancel flights.

Pollution alerts are common in northern China, especially during bitterly cold winters when energy demand, much of it met by coal, soars.

But Beijing’s smog alert was at the second-highest orange only on Wednesday, raising questions from some living in the city. The Ministry of Environmental Protection said it hadn’t issued a smog red alert, the highest warning, because of discrepancies in the forecasts for different parts of Beijing.

As of 12 p.m. (0400 GMT), the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring centre reported the air quality index (AQI) exceeded 300, a level deemed “hazardous” on most scales and which can have a long-term impact on health.

Beijing’s streets on Wednesday were filled with people donning masks, as concerns about the air pollution rise.

“My baby stays at home and is not allowed to go out these days. The elderly and children do not go outside, and I usually put on a mask when going out to work. I don’t want to go outside in such a weather, and my mood is pretty bad,” said one resident, 30-year-old Du Xuejing.

“Actually we are thinking of emigrating,” added another Beijing resident, 36-year-old Chen Shiyuan. “I think this is horrible and can affect the next generation.”

China is in the third year of a war on pollution aimed at reversing the damage done to its skies, soil and water after decades of untrammelled economic growth. But measures taken so far have had little or no effect.

Heavily polluted Hebei province, which surrounds most of Beijing, said on Tuesday (January 3) it had ordered all polluting firms in Tangshan, China’s biggest steel-producing city to the east of Beijing, to shut down.