Smog in Guangdong worst since founding of people's republic

Guangdong was plagued last year by the worst smog in 59 years, with 27 major cities and counties reporting record numbers of smoggy days, according to the province's meteorological bureau.

A bureau report reviewing the atmospheric state of Guangdong last year said the average number of smoggy days reported was 75.5, the highest since 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded.

It also revealed that some inland cities which had been relatively free of smog had started to report an increasing number of smoggy days.

In Hong Kong, smog last year was the third-worst since 1968, with the number of hours with reduced visibility reaching 1,298. December was also the worst recorded month of reduced visibility - 305 hours.

Xinhua reported that the Guangdong Meteorological Bureau said the number of smoggy days in 27 cities and counties in the province had broken previous records. The western Guangdong county of Enping suffered from the worst smog - with 240 smoggy days recorded last year. Dongguan city , where many Hong Kong factories are based, recorded 213 smoggy days.

In the northeastern city of Heyuan, once a pristine rural area and site of the province's biggest water reserve, the number of smoggy days increased dramatically - from three days in 2005 to 182 last year.

The deterioration was believed to be a direct result of relocation of industries further inland.