Heavy air pollution to continue in north, northeast China

North and northeast China will continue to suffer air pollution in the next few days due to poor meteorological conditions and the start of the heating season.

According to Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center, the capital city will see "moderate to heavy air pollution" until next Monday when a cold front is expected to disperse the filthy air.

Up to now, the number of heavily polluted days this year dropped by 17 compared with the same period of 2014.

"The improvement should be attributed to air pollution control measures of the government," said Zhang Dawei, director of the center. But with the heating season comes more pollutants and challenges remain.

In north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, several cities have been shrouded by heavy smog since Monday morning, slashing visibility and closing highways.

Lingering smog persists in northeastern Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, forcing coal-burning plants to reduce production, construction sites to suspend work, and students to stay indoors.

Although the air-quality index (AQI) in Shenyang City, capital of Liaoning Province, was reduced from heavy to light pollution, measuring 117 as of 4 p.m. on Tuesday, the weather bureau forecast that smog will linger in the city in the next two days. Endi