AP, Beijing :
Beijing residents stayed indoors, schools were closed and limits on cars, factories and construction sites kept pollution from spiking even higher on Wednesday, the second of three days of restrictions triggered by the city’s first red alert for smog.
Cars with even-numbered license plates were kept off roads, and schools and constructions sites remained shuttered. Far fewer pedestrians walked the streets than usual – many of them wearing air filtering face masks to aid their breathing.
Stuck at home, 8-year-old Zhao Hanxiao said she didn’t mind missing school, but was fed up with not being able to play outside or go out to see friends.
“There is gray fog everywhere. We cannot leave the house, we cannot do anything, we can only stay at home, study at home, do everything at home,” said Zhao, whose mother, an architect, has been working from the family’s apartment in an affluent neighborhood in central Beijing.
Like many children in the capital, Zhao has come to see smog as a part of everyday life. “The reality is that we have smog,” she said. “I am sure smog will be here in the future, too, because this is what is normal.”
Zhang Jingtie, who sells insurance and water purifiers, said she had no choice but to be out despite restrictions through Thursday that have prompted some businesses to close and others to allow employees to work from home.
“I stay outdoors most of the time, so I am very worried that I may have cancer if I continue to live in this kind of air for a long time,” said Zhang, 25. “So we really need to do something to protect the environment.”
Beijing residents stayed indoors, schools were closed and limits on cars, factories and construction sites kept pollution from spiking even higher on Wednesday, the second of three days of restrictions triggered by the city’s first red alert for smog.
Cars with even-numbered license plates were kept off roads, and schools and constructions sites remained shuttered. Far fewer pedestrians walked the streets than usual – many of them wearing air filtering face masks to aid their breathing.
Stuck at home, 8-year-old Zhao Hanxiao said she didn’t mind missing school, but was fed up with not being able to play outside or go out to see friends.
“There is gray fog everywhere. We cannot leave the house, we cannot do anything, we can only stay at home, study at home, do everything at home,” said Zhao, whose mother, an architect, has been working from the family’s apartment in an affluent neighborhood in central Beijing.
Like many children in the capital, Zhao has come to see smog as a part of everyday life. “The reality is that we have smog,” she said. “I am sure smog will be here in the future, too, because this is what is normal.”
Zhang Jingtie, who sells insurance and water purifiers, said she had no choice but to be out despite restrictions through Thursday that have prompted some businesses to close and others to allow employees to work from home.
“I stay outdoors most of the time, so I am very worried that I may have cancer if I continue to live in this kind of air for a long time,” said Zhang, 25. “So we really need to do something to protect the environment.”
