On Thursday, Beijing issued its first red alert for smog this year, with the haze arriving in the nation's capital late on Friday. The city's residents are bracing themselves as they expect to see air pollution reach hazardous levels throughout the weekend. Luckily it's expected to last only until next week, dispersing on Wednesday.

Reducing smoggy days a long & complicated battle

Today is the second day of Beijing's first red alert for smog this year. The air pollution is forecast to get hazardous from today. As you can see, as of 3 o'clock in the afternoon, it has become quite smoggy in downtwon Beijing. But it's still very sunny, and the air is acually not as choking as yesterday when the smog arrived. But we don't konw what is going to happen in the following two or three days.

Now many factories in and round Beijing have been temporarily shut down, construction sites have been closed, and half the cars have been pulled from the road to try not to worsen the situation. People are advised to stay indoors, and school classes are temporarily suspeneded. Some regulations have contributed to more so called bule sky days this year. According to the municipal environmental protection authorities, for the past 11 months, there were in total 185 blue sky days, ten more days year on year. But the 5-day red alert has got people wondering why the air quality in the capital city is not getting better. Improving air quality has become a government priority, but reducing smoggy days like this will be a long and complicated battle.