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.