Make me your Homepage
    left corner left corner
    China Daily Website

    Development shift needed to help lift smog

    Updated: 2013-12-06 22:08
    ( Xinhua)

    BEIJING - Days of lingering smog covering large parts of China have caused traffic jams and school closures, bringing the country's economic development transformation into sharp focus.

    Smog, which started to hit central and eastern areas of the country on Wednesday, was described by He Lifu, chief meteorologist with the China Meteorological Center (CMC), as the severest so far this winter.

    Classes were suspended on Thursday and Friday in all middle and primary schools as well as kindergartens in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province. The municipal government on Wednesday evening had initiated a red emergency response for air pollution.

    China has a four-tier warning system for extreme weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

    The Ministry of Environmental Protection on Wednesday blamed the smog on an accumulation of pollutants caused by adverse weather conditions, vehicle emissions and coal-fired pollution.

    However, it has been argued that the heavy smog is simply a reflection of China's economic development, and restructuring of its development model needs to be accelerated.

    "Smog and haze are largely attributed to the current development model," said Xie Zhenhua, deputy minister of the National Development and Reform Commission. He said companies cared more about output growth and that environmental protection was being ignored.

    Zhou Jun, an official with the environmental protection bureau in Shanghai, said the way China develops should be fundamentally changed in order to reduce the number of smoggy days. He said the current industrial structure and layout plans need to be revised.

    In addition, netizens vented their anger by posting photographs of gray surroundings on social networking websites and on messaging apps.

    "It is like a disaster film," said netizen "Niu Niu" on her Wechat account, with a picture attached.

    Heavy smog has also led to an increase in the number of people with respiratory problems, and a surge in sales of face masks and air purifiers.

    The number of patients visiting respiratory departments is 30 percent more than usual, according to Shanghai's health department statistics.

    Sales of face masks at online retailers on Taobao.com rose 357 percent over the past week compared with the same period last year.

    According to the Actions to Address Climate Change 2013 annual report released last month by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the frequency of smog has increased over the past 50 years.

    Data from the CMC also showed that over the last 52 years, 2013 has had the most smoggy days.

    The Chinese government unveiled an action plan in September, vowing to cut the density of inhalable particulate matter by at least 10 percent in major cities nationwide by 2017.

    PM 2.5, a key indicator of air pollution, should fall by about 25 percent from 2012 levels in Beijing and surrounding provincial areas by 2017, according to the plan.

    "Aside from restructuring the economic development model, strict law enforcement is needed to combat air pollution," Xie Zhenhua said.

    Although the smog is expected to lift on Sunday, Xie said there is still a long way to go for China in tackling its air pollution.

    8.03K
     
    ...
    Hot Topics
    A sailor from British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Daring tries to catch a mooring line to dock in the north side of the bund at Huangpu River in Shanghai December 10, 2013.
    ...
    ...
    三级理论中文字幕在线播放| 自拍中文精品无码| 亚洲AV中文无码乱人伦在线视色 | 日韩精品无码Av一区二区| 日韩精品中文字幕第2页| 91久久九九无码成人网站| 日韩精品无码免费专区午夜不卡| 国产又爽又黄无码无遮挡在线观看 | 无码人妻精品一区二区三区99性 | 日韩免费人妻AV无码专区蜜桃| 中文字幕一区二区三区精彩视频| mm1313亚洲国产精品无码试看 | 久久精品中文无码资源站| 亚洲AV无码久久精品狠狠爱浪潮 | 日韩电影免费在线观看中文字幕| 少妇无码一区二区二三区| 中文字幕一区二区三区5566| 国产高清无码视频| 无码少妇一区二区三区浪潮AV| 久久精品中文字幕有码| 乱人伦中文无码视频在线观看 | 久久精品无码一区二区三区日韩| 亚洲韩国精品无码一区二区三区| 中文字幕日本高清| 亚洲 欧美 中文 在线 视频| 亚洲成a人在线看天堂无码| 久久精品亚洲中文字幕无码麻豆| 国产日韩AV免费无码一区二区| 无码人妻少妇久久中文字幕| 亚洲 欧美 国产 日韩 中文字幕| 亚洲国产精品无码久久青草| 精品无码国产一区二区三区51安| 人妻系列AV无码专区| 中文字幕九七精品乱码 | 亚洲成A人片在线观看无码不卡| 亚洲中文无韩国r级电影| 精品人妻中文字幕有码在线| 中文字幕高清在线| 色综合久久中文字幕综合网 | a亚洲欧美中文日韩在线v日本| 最近2022中文字幕免费视频|