Capital typically enjoys an unusual succession of clear days when the party holds major events
Beijingers are going without barbecue. Construction sites have halted work. Factories hundreds of kilometres away have halted production.
Despite all-out efforts to give the Chinese Communist Party blue skies for its twice-a-decade congress, Beijing’s notorious smog has cloaked the mega-city in its trademark toxic haze.
The capital typically enjoys an unusual succession of clear days when the party holds major events, with smoke-churning factories ordered to shut down.
Even restaurants famous for flavourful shish kebabs turned off their barbecues, with a waiter telling diners at one eatery this week that the lamb delicacies would be off the menu during the congress.
