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Beijing turns hazy under blanket of smog
Beijing's heavily polluted haze turned murkier on Wednesday, evoking strong public criticism against the government's inability to rein in state-owned oil firms for supplying 'bad quality' gasoline, which is being used by over five million vehicles on city's roads.
A total of 1.3 million square km of the country was enveloped by dense haze, covering most parts of northern and eastern China, according to the ministry of environmental protection.
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Beijing turns hazy under blanket of smog
The ministry graded the air quality of Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang in Hebei and Jinan in Shandong as level 6, indicating serious pollution.
There are reports of several airports and highways being closed due to heavy smog in different cities.
The picture turned bleaker on Wednesday for the Chinese capital, making it worse than Tuesday, with visibility levels falling to a few hundred meters.
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Beijing turns hazy under blanket of smog
While officials continue to maintain that emergency measures are in force, temporarily shutting down over 300 heavily polluting industries and reducing the flow of official cars on the roads, the public blamed the government and oil industries for buying poor quality crude.
Beijing has a permanent population of over 20 million. The city has over 5.2 million cars.
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Beijing turns hazy under blanket of smog
As the murky haze continued to shroud large swathes of Beijing and China , the choking public pointed their fingers at the country's top oil firms.
Agitated by the deteriorating smog, many nitizens blamed two state owned major oil giants -- the China National Petroleum Corporation and China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) -- saying that they are the main culprits behind the pollution.
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Beijing turns hazy under blanket of smog
According to a diagram on sohu.com, the standard of China's petroleum is greatly inferior to that of the United States and Europe, the state-run Global Times reported.
It pointed out that China is the world's largest buyer of 'bad-quality' crude. The gasoline has a high content of sulphur due to insufficient investment in refining technology.
The report soon triggered a massive online uproar on Weibo -- the Chinese Twitter.
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Beijing turns hazy under blanket of smog
Some even blamed the authorities and the media for intentionally dodging this serious problem while analysing the causes behind the smog.
"The smog was caused by diverse reasons. Oil is just one of the factors contributing to the issue," Lu Dapeng, a spokesperson for Sinopec, told the Global Times.
He added that starting from May 2012, the firm has been providing the capital with oil products equivalent to 'Euro V' standards.
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Beijing turns hazy under blanket of smog
"It's the strictest standard in the world, the sulphur content of which is less than 10 ppm," said Lu.
Han Xiaoping, an energy industry analyst, said the burning of coal in winter, and not vehicle emissions, was the main contributor to air pollution.
The public discontent over the pollution has also alarmed the government.
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