Has the sparkle gone out of Beijing's holiday season?

Sales of fireworks and firecrackers have slumped this Spring Festival, vendors say, as residents aim to avert the dense smog that engulfed the city in January.

"People just seem less enthusiastic than before," said An Fenglan, who runs a fireworks stall in Beijing.

"Those that are buying don't want big fireworks," An said. "The smaller ones are selling much better, but that means less money for us."

Zhou Zhengyu, deputy secretary-general of Beijing municipal government, said just 260,000 boxes of fireworks were sold throughout the capital from Feb 5 to 9, Lunar New Year's Eve. The figure is 37 percent down on the 410,000 cartons sold during the same period last year.

In a report by Beijing Times, a spokesman for Beijing Fireworks Co was quoted saying its sales had plunged 30 percent.

Pollution levels soared in many parts of North China last month, resulting in a haze that clouded cities for many days.

In the capital, the average density of PM2.5 — microscopic matter that can enter the lungs and blood stream — reached 180 micrograms per cubic meter in January, about 30 percent higher than the same period from 2009 to 2011, Xinhua News Agency reported.

According to Feng Kun at the Beijing Municipal Commission of City Administration and Environment, the bad air has drastically raised residents' environmental awareness.

Shaoxing in Zhejiang province is covered by heavy smog on Sunday, causing several expressways to close. Rui Chang / for China Daily