China’s smoggiest city closes schools

SHIJIAZHUANG // Schools in China’s smoggiest city closed yesterday as much of the country suffered its sixth day under haze, sparking public anger about the slow response to the threat to children’s health.

Since Friday, a choking miasma has covered a large area of north-east China, leaving more than 460 million gasping for breath.

Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, was one of more than 20 cities that went on red alert on Friday, triggering an emergency plan to reduce pollution by shutting polluting factories and taking cars off the road, among other measures.

Nowhere has been hit as hard as Shijiazhuang, which has suffered a huge rise in pollution.

But the city’s education department waited until Tuesday evening to announce it was closing elementary schools and kindergartens, following similar moves in nearby Beijing and Tianjin. The announcement, which said middle and high schools could close on a voluntary basis, provoked anger.

“Are middle school students’ bodies’ air purifiers,” said one commentator, adding “are you going to wait for us all to become sick before you step up to fix this?”

A picture from Linzhou City in neighbouring Henan province showing more than 400 students sitting an exam on a football pitch after their school was forced to close, further fuelled discontent.

The city education and sports bureau has suspended the school principal for organising the outdoor exams, the state news agency Xinhua reported.

The streets of Shijiazhuang, which has a population of 10.7 million, reeked of coal smoke yesterday as pedestrians and cyclists flitted through a thick grey haze that reduced buildings to gauzy silhouettes.

Only a handful wore the white disposable masks that have become increasingly common in Beijing since the government issued its first red alert last December.

“I don’t like this pollution but I have to work,” said street sweeper Dong Xiai, 44, adding that his colleagues do not wear masks because the city does not provide them.