A blast furnace in Delong Steel, where dust is rarely seen due to environment-improving projects. (Photo: China.org.cn/Zhang Lulu)
Just a 15 minute drive from downtown Xingtai,north China's Hebei Province, is the site of Delong Steel, one of two steel factories in the city. When one wanders inside the plant, one can see banners with the slogan "building a garden factory" dotting the buildings.
A "garden factory" is perhaps something the steel plant has never imagined in the past, but which it has found itself envisioning in recent years as it engages in the city's massive anti-smog campaign.
"My eye sockets were filled with dirt"
Si Guoliang recalled the day when he first visited Delong Steel. As the newly appointed chief of the local bureau of environmental protection, Si led a surprise inspection of the factory in a midnight in April 2014. "After staying there for a couple of hours, I left with my eye sockets filled with dirt and soot and my face turning blackish," Si said.
The steel factory used to be one of the major polluters in Xingtai, which was ranked the last in air quality across China in 2013. Readings of PM2.5, or inhalable fine particulates that are dangerous to human health, often stood "off the charts" in the city.
The city government found itself under tremendous pressure from both its smog-choked citizens and Beijing -- which is only a five hour drive away and easily affected by the poor air there.
The city began a massive anti-smog campaign in 2014. Its 1,816 enterprises were ordered to either reach the country's emission standards by 2014 or shut down; all of the city's eleven coal-burning power plants reached the low emission standards in 2015; and millions of steel, iron and glass capacity were reduced in 2016, according to Chen Shi, vice director of the city's development and reform commission.
Delong Steel, the city's second largest taxpayer, followed the anti-smog campaign. "We have been cutting our capacity while increasing our investment in the environment," said Jin Xuran, vice manager of the plant. He said the factory has spent nearly 600 million yuan (about US$87 million) in a total of 42 environment-improving projects in the past three years.
Meanwhile, the plant has been reducing its production capacity. Since last October, it has shut down nearly half of its capacity to help ease the burden faced by the city as air quality is often poorer in winter due to the use of heating and lower wind speeds.
Si Guoliang, the local environment chief, said that now when he visits the villagers who live near the plant, they tell him that they are able to put their white shirts outside to dry without them being affected by the sooty air. "As a matter of fact, 20 cities from the country's nine provinces came to learn Xingtai's experience in environment protection in 2016 were to take a look at Delong Steel," he added with pride.
"Making up for inborn shortcomings"
With efforts like this in recent years, Xingtai has seen improvement in its air quality. In 2016, the city registered 173 days that met the country's air quality standards, an increase of 33 days from 2015 and 135 days from 2013. The average concentration of PM2.5 was 87 micrograms per cubic meter, a decrease of 13.9 percent year on year, according to Zhou Yongquan, the city's vice mayor. It ranked fourth from the bottom across China's major cities, ditching its reputation as the country's most polluted city.
But the task going forward is apparently more daunting. "Dealing with air problems has now entered into the 'deep water zone,' where the room for improvement has shrank," the vice mayor said.
The city is a traditional heavy industrial city, with steel, engineering and construction material industries as its economic lifeline. In a 25-kilometer radius, which is more than one fourth of the central urban area, there are more than 100 coal-burning companies, three power plants, two steel factories, two coking plants, 40 glass factories and nearly 1,000 small-sized building board plants, according to Zhou. "These factories encompass the city like a wall. Air pollutants constantly flow to the city regardless of the season and the directions of wind."
Moreover, the city relies heavily on coal and has an increasing number of automobiles -- like most of China's third- and fourth-tier cities -- and unfavorable geography which leads to lower wind speeds.
"We are born with disadvantages, but we have to make up with our efforts, " said the vice governor.
