art-aiweiwei2-620x349.jpg (Photo : www.domain.com.au)
Cities surrounding the Beijing capital decided to help ensure blue skies during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit by offering additional holidays to citizens and imposing an odd-even coding scheme on drivers.
Civil servants living in 10 counties in Baoding and Langfang cities in Hebei Province will observe a six-day holiday from Nov. 7 to 12.
According to authorities from the two cities, the long holiday is for reducing the negative effect of the large population on Beijing's air quality during the APEC meetings.
With the current arrangements, government workers were required to work on Nov. 2 and will be required to report to work on Nov. 15.
An odd-even coding scheme on license plates has been implemented by some cities in Hebei with the most polluted air quality. These cities are Baoding, Handan, Langfang, Shijiazhuang and Xingtai.
The license-plate ban allows vehicles to travel only on alternating days based on whether their plate numbers are even or odd.
Other regions and cities such as Cangzhou, Hengshui, Tangshan and Tianjin declared that they will also implement the odd-even traffic ban.
According to Hebei provincial environmental agency director Wang Xiaoli, there will be no strong winds on Nov. 6 in Beijing. As a result, Hebei and Tianjin will have reduced dispersion of air pollutants during the APEC summit.
From Nov. 10 to 11, the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting will be happening in Beijing. China will be hosting a string of meetings from Nov. 6 onwards.
