BEIJING (Reuters) - Choking smog all but shut down one of
northeastern China's largest cities on Monday, forcing schools to suspended
classes, snarling traffic and closing the airport, in the country's first major
air pollution crisis of the winter.
An index measuring
PM2.5, or particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5), reached
a reading of 1,000 in some parts of Harbin, the gritty capital of northeastern
Heilongjiang province and home to some 11 million people.
A level above 300 is
considered hazardous, while the World Health Organisation recommends a daily
level of no more than 20.
The smog not only
forced all primary and middle schools to suspend classes, but shut the airport
and some public bus routes, the official Xinhua news agency reported, blaming
the emergency on the first day of the heating being turned on in the city for
winter. Visibility was reportedly reduced to 10 meters.
The smog is expected
to continue for the next 24 hours.
Air quality in Chinese
cities is of increasing concern to China's stability-obsessed leadership
because it plays into popular resentment over political privilege and rising
inequality in the world's second-largest economy.
Domestic media have
run stories describing the expensive air purifiers government officials enjoy
in their homes and offices, alongside reports of special organic farms so
cadres need not risk suffering from recurring food safety scandals.
The government has
announced plans over the years to tackle the pollution problem but has made
little apparent progress.
Users of China's
popular Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblogging site reacted with both anger and
bitter sarcasm over Harbin's air pollution.
"After years of
effort, the wise and hard-working people of Harbin have finally managed to skip
both the middle-class society and the communist society stages, and have now
entered a fairyland society!" wrote on user.
Other parts of
northeastern China also experienced severe smog, including Tangshan, two hours
east of Beijing, and Changchun, the capital of Jilin province which borders
Heilongjiang.
Last week, Beijing
city released a color-coded alert system for handling air pollution
emergencies, to include the temporary halt of construction, factory production,
outdoor barbeques and the setting off of fireworks.
Beijing suffered its
own smog emergency last winter when the PM2.5 surpassed 900 on one particularly
bad day in January.
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