Shamefaced officials deny cooking is main source of Beijing air pollution

Embarrassed Beijing government officials have sought to distance themselves from a senior bureaucrat’s comment that Chinese-style cooking was the main source of air pollution in the capital after it provoked widespread scorn and ridicule.

The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection yesterday denied that cooking was the main source contributing to PM2.5 – atmospheric particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less. Compared with emissions from automobiles, burning coal and industrial dust, smoke from cooking only makes up a small proportion of the heavy smog in the capital city of China.

Zhao Hui-ming, head of the Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, made the comments on Tuesday at the Foreign Affairs Office’s press conference on next year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum in Beijing. He said: “The traditional way of cooking Chinese dishes has contributed quite a portion to the PM 2.5 index. I hope Beijingers can cooperate to keep the air clean.”

The accusation has provoked heated discussions on social media, generating almost 50,000 Weibo posts as of Thursday lunchtime. More than 5,000 people participated in a survey on Weibo choosing whether they would “cooperate” or “cook as usual”. Only 14.2 per cent of the participants said they would “cooperate”.

“Let’s do even and odd-numbered dates for cooking, just like car licences. Cook on even-numbered dates, and starve on the odds! I would be proud to do it for next year’s Apec!” a netizen posted online under the name of “Yi Xinran”.

Another Weibo user wrote: “Support real-name registrations for cooking. Government leaders should go first.”