Beijing's schools will suspend all outdoor activities for three days, due to new air pollution peaks, official media announced on Sunday, a week after a nightmarish "airpocalypse" episode in the Chinese capital.
" Akindergartens, elementary school and secondary schools will have to suspend their outdoor activities from Monday to Wednesday." This was due to a new "orange alert" issued by the authorities, the state-run China News Agency reported, citing the municipal education bureau.
With winter temperatures at or around freezing, Beijing was drowned at the start of the week in a dense, whitish polluting fog impregnated with the acrid smell of coal, which severely limited visibility.
The density of particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 microns (PM 2.5), particularly hazardous to health, had reached over 600 micrograms per cubic metre on Monday and Tuesday, according to reference levels measured by the American Embassy in Beijing. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends an average ceiling of just 25 micrograms per twenty-four hours.
These micro-particulate pollutants are blamed for hundreds of thousands of premature deaths in China, where "airpocalypse" episodes are frequent and cause great discontent among city dwellers.
Beijing had already triggered an "orange alert" last weekend, its highest pollution alert level this year, and the authorities had urged residents to "avoid going outside as much as possible".
On Sunday, readings from the US embassy showed PM 2.5 particle density in Beijing at up to 287 micrograms per m3, almost 12 times the WHO recommended limit.
The world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs), China was responsible for 25.9 % of global carbon dioxide emissions in 2012.Chinese President Xi Jinping announced on Wednesday his intention to reduce "major pollutant" emissions from his coal-fired power plants by 60% by 2020, by upgrading their infrastructure.
Unveiled at a time when the COP21 climate conference is in full swing in Paris, the government's announcement is - in the opinion of analysts - aimed above all at appeasing popular exasperation.
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Writing with AFP
Photo: Wang Shao / AFP
