China suffered its worst air pollution of the year recently. More than 70 Chinese cities released warnings to citizens in the last few days about pollution reaching dangerous levels. The poor air quality led the government to order factories, some power plants and schools to close. But there were reports that some local officials were not obeying the orders. In one city in northern Hebei province, people wrote on social media that schools were kept open although the area had the highest pollution threat. Media reports in the central province of Henan also showed pictures of students completing school activities in the dirty open air. State-run news agency Xinhua reported that an official in Henan province said factory production was continuing. The official said up to 4,000 factories had not stopped or limited production as ordered by the government. Records of power use at the factories showed little change in the amount of production. The Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a statement Monday that only “a small number of businesses” had not taken the bans seriously and continued operations. Driving restrictions were also put in effect and hundreds of flights were delayed or cancelled in Beijing because of poor visibility.
