Photo gallery: Beijing orders official cars off roads as smog engulfs city
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Skyscrapers are obscure by heavy haze in Beijing, Sunday, Jan 13, 2013. People refused to venture outdoors and buildings disappeared into Beijing's murky skyline on Sunday as the capital's air quality went off the index. -- PHOTO : AP
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Visitors (left), at the Forbidden City walk through a door way enveloped by severe haze in Beijing, Sunday, Jan 13, 2013. People refused to venture outdoors and buildings disappeared into Beijing's murky skyline on Sunday as the capital's air quality went off the index. -- PHOTO : AP
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This picture taken on Jan 12, 2013, shows sun light being reflected in a window of a building in Beijing. Dense smog shrouded Beijing on Jan 12, with pollution at hazardous levels for a second day and residents advised to stay indoors, state media said. -- PHOTO : AFP
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A man walks along trees on a heavy haze winter day in central Beijing, Jan 12, 2013. Microscopic pollutant particles in the air have killed some 8,600 people prematurely in 2012 and cost $1 billion in economic losses in four Chinese cities, according to a study by Beijing University and Greenpeace. The study of pollutant levels of PM2.5, or particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi'an called for PM2.5 levels to be cut to World Health Organisation guidelines, which would reduce deaths by over 80 per cent, the China Daily newspaper reported. -- PHOTO : REUTERS
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People walk on a pedestrian bridge on a very hazy winter day in Beijing, Jan 12, 2013. Microscopic pollutant particles in the air have killed some 8,600 people prematurely in 2012 and cost $1 billion in economic losses in four Chinese cities, according to a study by Beijing University and Greenpeace. The study of pollutant levels of PM2.5, or particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi'an, called for PM2.5 levels to be cut to World Health Organisation guidelines, which would reduce deaths by over 80 per cent, the China Daily newspaper reported. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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A woman wears a mask as she visits Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Sunday, Jan 13, 2013. People refused to venture outdoors and buildings disappeared into Beijing's murky skyline on Sunday as the capital's air quality went off the index. -- PHOTO : AP
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Visitors gather near an entrance to the Forbidden city during a very hazy day in Beijing, Sunday, Jan 13, 2013. People refused to venture outdoors and buildings disappeared into Beijing's murky skyline on Sunday as the capital's air quality went off the index. -- PHOTO : AP
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A visitor wearing a mask walks outside the Forbidden City on a heavy haze day in central Beijing, Jan 13, 2013. Air quality in Beijing was the "worst on record" on Saturday and Sunday, according to environmentalists, as the city's pollution monitoring centre warned residents to stay indoors with pollution 30-45 times above recommended safety levels. -- PHOTO : REUTERS
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Severe pollution clouds the Beijing skyline on Jan 12, 2013. Air quality data released via the US embassy twitter feed recorded air quality index levels so hazardous that they were classed as 'Beyond Index'. Just after midday the particle matter (PM) 2.5 figure was 519 on a scale that stops at 500 and advises against all outdoor activity. -- PHOTO : AFP
Skyscrapers are obscure by heavy haze in Beijing, Sunday, Jan 13, 2013. People refused to venture outdoors and buildings disappeared into Beijing's murky skyline on Sunday as the capital's air quality went off the index. -- PHOTO : AP
Visitors (left), at the Forbidden City walk through a door way enveloped by severe haze in Beijing, Sunday, Jan 13, 2013. People refused to venture outdoors and buildings disappeared into Beijing's murky skyline on Sunday as the capital's air quality went off the index. -- PHOTO : AP
This picture taken on Jan 12, 2013, shows sun light being reflected in a window of a building in Beijing. Dense smog shrouded Beijing on Jan 12, with pollution at hazardous levels for a second day and residents advised to stay indoors, state media said. -- PHOTO : AFP
A man walks along trees on a heavy haze winter day in central Beijing, Jan 12, 2013. Microscopic pollutant particles in the air have killed some 8,600 people prematurely in 2012 and cost $1 billion in economic losses in four Chinese cities, according to a study by Beijing University and Greenpeace. The study of pollutant levels of PM2.5, or particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi'an called for PM2.5 levels to be cut to World Health Organisation guidelines, which would reduce deaths by over 80 per cent, the China Daily newspaper reported. -- PHOTO : REUTERS
People walk on a pedestrian bridge on a very hazy winter day in Beijing, Jan 12, 2013. Microscopic pollutant particles in the air have killed some 8,600 people prematurely in 2012 and cost $1 billion in economic losses in four Chinese cities, according to a study by Beijing University and Greenpeace. The study of pollutant levels of PM2.5, or particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi'an, called for PM2.5 levels to be cut to World Health Organisation guidelines, which would reduce deaths by over 80 per cent, the China Daily newspaper reported. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
A woman wears a mask as she visits Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Sunday, Jan 13, 2013. People refused to venture outdoors and buildings disappeared into Beijing's murky skyline on Sunday as the capital's air quality went off the index. -- PHOTO : AP
Visitors gather near an entrance to the Forbidden city during a very hazy day in Beijing, Sunday, Jan 13, 2013. People refused to venture outdoors and buildings disappeared into Beijing's murky skyline on Sunday as the capital's air quality went off the index. -- PHOTO : AP
A visitor wearing a mask walks outside the Forbidden City on a heavy haze day in central Beijing, Jan 13, 2013. Air quality in Beijing was the "worst on record" on Saturday and Sunday, according to environmentalists, as the city's pollution monitoring centre warned residents to stay indoors with pollution 30-45 times above recommended safety levels. -- PHOTO : REUTERS
Severe pollution clouds the Beijing skyline on Jan 12, 2013. Air quality data released via the US embassy twitter feed recorded air quality index levels so hazardous that they were classed as 'Beyond Index'. Just after midday the particle matter (PM) 2.5 figure was 519 on a scale that stops at 500 and advises against all outdoor activity. -- PHOTO : AFP
Official cars were kept off the roads and school children indoors, as the Beijing authorities got down to battle off-the-charts pollution in the capital, while warning that this will likely last until Wednesday.
Hospitals are seeing up to 30 per cent increases in admissions, while the sales of face masks and air purifiers have also surged.
The bad smog over Beijing has sparked wide soul searching, as the official media joined Internet users in calling for a rethink of China’s modernisation process, which has sacrificed the environment for the sake of urbanisation and economic development.
