Chinese spend National Day holiday in fog and frugality

Golden Week, China's National Day holiday ends on Monday, and has been marked by prolonged foggy weather in north China and a national campaign of frugality.

HEAVY FOG

Heavy fog has covered most parts of north China since October 4,the fourth day of the National Day holiday, affecting at least seven cities and provinces including Beijing, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Shandong, Shaanxi and Tianjin.

On Sunday, Beijing's air was severely polluted and extremely unhealthy, according to the National Meteorological Center, who predicted that the miserable weather would last until Tuesday.

Not only did the foggy weather raise health concerns, it disrupted holiday traffic. In Beijing, the visibility was under 1,000 meters in downtown areas on Sunday. Traffic police closed six interprovincial expressways, including roads linking the capital with Harbin in the northeast, Shanghai in the east, as well as Tianjin and Hebei.

At Beijing's Capital International Airport, 13 flights were canceled, 29 incoming flights had to land at airports in neighboring cities and another five had to return due to the poor visibility.

Authorities in Tianjin closed all 14 expressways in the northern municipality because of the fog. In the neighboring Hebei Province, 13 expressways are closed until visibility improves. Foggy weather also affected most parts of Liaoning Province with 15 expressways closed.

In the foggiest industrial city of Anshan, visibility was under 50 meters in some areas and many travelers were forced to postpone their trips.