Air pollution in China dampened the week-long holiday for National Day. (Photo : Getty Images)
For the first time this year, Chinese officials raised the yellow alert on Sunday because of heavy smog. The yellow alert is the third highest alert.
The municipal environmental monitoring center said that the amount of particles in Beijing reached 187 micrograms of the article PM2.5 in the air in Beijing. This is the second to the highest in air pollution in the city's index.
There was heavy smog detected in Hebei Province and Tianjin that affected many tourists who are enjoying the Golden Week.
"Besides, the PM10 reading climbed fivefold over the year-on-year level, indicating that construction site controls did not work well, generating large quantities of dust in the region," according to a statement from the Ministry of Environment Protection.
According to independent research group Berkeley Earth, "Air pollution is killing an average of 4,000 people a day in China as if every man, woman, and child in China smoked 1.5 cigarettes every hour."
The main cause of pollution in the country is the massive production of coal. In 2015, Beijing and nearby provinces have to issue a red alert on smog.
In 2011, two Chinese provinces, Hebei and Shandong, consumed more coal than India.
Greenpeace said, "...more coal [was] consumed [in 2011] within 600 kilometers of China's capital than in the entire United States."
According to a study released in 2013, people in northern China may be dying five years sooner due to high levels of air pollution.
The government is addressing environmental issues and air pollution through the 2013 Air Pollution Prevention Action Plan. China has been aggressive in addressing the problems.
To date, China is the biggest contributor to global efforts for environment protection.
