Blue skies beckon ahead of the National Party Congress

Beijing cuts down on pollution as bigwigs make their way to the capital

Back in March at the National People’s Congress, Premier Li Keqiang was talking pretty big game about reducing pollution and promising ‘more and more blue skies every year’. With all eyes on the capital next week as the Chinese Communist Party undergoes a major political shake-up, Beijing authorities are quite unsurprisingly moving to drastically curb pollution levels. In the past, high-profile meetings in China have been typically accompanied by uncharacteristically smog-free skies, and the National Party Congress is set to be no different.

Thumbs up for clear skies.

For those uninterested in all the political hubbub, just know that it means blue skies are on the imminent horizon. In and around Beijing, efforts have been ramped up to ensure the skies remain smog-free and blue, such as in Handan, where steel mills have halved their output a month earlier than scheduled.

Factories are reducing production a month early.

So while this blissful pollution-free weather may only last for ten days (the duration of the Congress), it’s a brilliant opportunity to tick off that Beijing bucket list or up your Instagram game.

Speaking of that Beijing bucket list... (hit '阅读原文' below).

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