This Day, That Year

Item from Dec 25, 1998 in China Daily: To help restore the capital’s air quality, several districts in Beijing launched campaigns to get rid of unlicensed barbecue and hotpot streetside businesses.

Barbecue cooking, vehicle exhaust and coal burning were identified as the three main pollution sources in the capital.

After a series of campaigns against air pollution, Beijing has seen a significant reduction in PM2.5 — tiny airborne particles that are harmful to health.

Residents in the city, accustomed to smoggy winter days, enjoyed blue skies for 80 percent of the time last month, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The Beijing government has launched comprehensive measures to reduce polluting emissions in the capital, including restricting industrial production by shutting down polluting plants, limiting the use of vehicles and reducing coal as a heating source.

From January to July, the capital phased out 300,000 vehicles with high emissions and shut down 3,648 polluting companies.

In addition, 79 percent of its 700 rural villages have switched from coal to electricity for heating.

Neighboring Tianjin and Hebei province have also made efforts to reduce air pollution.

The central government released a plan in 2015 for the integrated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The top environmental agency recently suggested that 28 cities in the region coordinate their efforts — such as issuing pollution warnings at the same time — to cope with expected bouts of severe smog.