Firecrackers on the traditional Spring Festival holidays and the Lantern Festival made the air quality in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, drop to the worst fifth grade.

According to the city's environmental monitoring station, the content of sulfur dioxide and the fine particulate matter in the air soared as rains of firecrackers pounded the city after 21:00 hours in the evening of January 31,the eve of the Spring Festival. It reached the peak in the small hours of February 1: 0.4736 mg per cubic meters for sulfur dioxide, 1.5 times more than a few hours ago, and 1.2484 mg per cubic meters for the particulate matter, 6 times as much, hitting an all-time high.

The air quality of the city was at fourth grade on February 1 and fifth grade on February 2. Among the seven holidays of the festival, only two days registered second grade.

The noises reached 120 decibels, equivalent to airplane noises, that may cause health hazards.

(www.cenews.com.cn February 24, 2003)