Beijing issues early smog alert under public outcry

For the first time, authorities in Beijing issued an orange alert two days before a new wave of smog is forecast to shroud the city, progress likely driven by wide criticism online. The air pollution emergency response office in Beijing issued the alert at 5 pm Saturday, which predicted that heavy smog is set to shroud the city from Monday to Wednesday, before a cold front arrives to blow the pollutants away on Thursday. Under an orange alert, building demolitions will be suspended, construction sites must halt the transport of materials and waste, while elementary schools and kindergartens are urged to completely stop outdoor activities. It is the city's first attempt to issue an air pollution alert two days in advance, so that relevant organizations and enterprises will have enough time to carry out the contingency plan, the Xinhua News Agency reported. Beijing was hit by the year's worst smog last week with pollutant readings in certain areas hitting 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter, some 40 times more than the World Health Organization's standard safe level of 25 micrograms per cubic meter. "The recent air pollution drew widespread criticism from the public, pressuring the government to improve on its measures," Li Zuojun, a deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, told the Global Times. Take precautions China's Minister of Environmental Protection Chen Jining vowed on Sunday to strictly punish agencies or personnel who fail to initiate the pollution emergency response plan in a timely manner. The Ministry of Environmental Protection will make more efforts to release timely forecasts of air pollution and study the causes of air pollution, Chen said during a conference on air pollution in Beijing. Unlike weather forecasting, issuing an air pollution alert requires a lot of data and analyses, while the results may be inaccurate due to the complexity of meteorological conditions, Wang Gengchen, a research fellow with the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), told the Global Times. Apart from that, China lags behind in pollution source analysis due to inadequate government financial support and the lack of an open nationwide monitoring database on pollution, Zhang Yuanxun, another CAS expert, told the Global Times earlier. The advance air pollution warning has been welcomed by citizens in Beijing. "The media has been warning us about the upcoming air pollution, while specific information about the pollution is shown on screens regularly in metro stations. We can now take precautions in advance because of this," Yang Zhou, a Beijing resident, told the Global Times Sunday. 'Flee the planet' Tackling air pollution has become as much a political issue as an environmental one. Last week, the heavy smog spurred a game of finger-pointing among government departments when discontent and protests grew on the Internet. Even Chinese e-commerce mogul Jack Ma jokingly said at a COP21 conference in Paris on Sunday that he wishes he were an alien so that he could flee to another planet to avoid the terrible smog, news portal ifeng.com reported. The public has also questioned the government's competence in dealing with air pollution, blaming it for not upgrading the orange alert to red last week, which would bring in a raft of tougher measures. A red alert is issued when hazardous air pollution lasts for more than 72 hours or three days, according to regulations. Under the highest-level alert, the city would resort to an odd-even number plate system for cars, such as that seen before the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, and kindergartens, primary and high schools would be closed, with certain industrial plants shut down. "It's understandable that people have high expectations about curbing the air pollution, but it's not a one-off task and requires time and endless efforts from both government and society," Wang noted.