Pollution eases in Beijing as holiday fireworks come to end

Air pollution in Beijing eased yesterday after two days of hazardous levels partly caused by firework displays traditionally used to mark the end of the Lunar New Year holiday.

The micrograms-per-cubic-metre concentration of PM2.5 - fine particulates that pose the greatest risk to human health - fell to 178 near Tiananmen Square in the centre of the capital at noon after averaging 432 in the previous 24 hours, according to data on the website of Beijing's air-monitoring centre.

The World Health Organisation advises day-long exposure of no higher than 25.

Thirty-three cities on the mainland recorded air quality indexes at heavily polluted levels on February 14, the end of the 15-day Lunar New Year celebration.

The PM2.5 level in Beijing's eastern Tongzhou district reached 900 even as residents set off fewer fireworks this year, according to Xinhua.

"The recent pollution may be caused by fireworks," said Li Zhenlong, 30, who works in the energy industry in the capital. "We shouldn't completely forbid firecrackers, this depends on people's own free will, while the government should largely promote not doing it."

Fireworks sales in Beijing during the festival declined 38 per cent from a year earlier, Xinhua reported, citing data from the municipal fireworks office.