Cities in north China blanketed in smog on final days of national “golden week” holidays

North China, including the capital city Beijing, continued to be smog alert on Wednesday, the last day of a week-long National Day “golden week” holiday.

The National Meteorological Centre first issued a yellow alert – the seond-lowest on a four-colour scale – on Tuesday and said that smog that blanketed Beijing, Tianjin and other northern cities since Monday “may persist” until Wednesday night, when an expected cold front would clear the air.

Meanwhile, the Beijing Times reported on Wednesday that the Ministry of Environmental Protection had held special meetings with officials from 25 cities and companies over pollution concerns since 2014. Twenty meetings had been held this year.

Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, had the most cities listed on the ministry’s air pollution “black list”. Officials from five of the province's cities have vowed to improve the situation.

Five provincial capital cities around the nation – Harbin, Shenyang, Kunming, Changchun, and Zhengzhou – were also on the meeting list.