Air pollution is always a hot topic in China, but particularly this week as world leaders gather in Beijing for the APEC summit. Photos on social media show glorious blue skies in Beijing, which have been cleared of dangerous PM 2.5 to impress foreign guests. Some online now describe the skies as “APEC blue”, with APEC standing for Air Pollution Effectively Controlled.

The same can’t be said for Guangzhou, however, which unfortunately doesn’t have any important people in town.

Just days after Guangzhou’s Mayor, Chen Jianhua, made a grand gesture to show his commitment to curbing the city’s air pollution, Guangzhou’s Air Quality Index (AQI) hit 192, just 9 points shy of the “Very Unhealthy” reading of 201 or higher.

Readings from 18 of the city’s monitoring stations showed it was a particularly smoggy day, with two of the readings collected from Lizhi Xicun and Zengceng Xintang showing 192, which fall in the “Unhealthy” range of 150 to 200, reported New Express Daily.

The readings prompted the city to issue an orange smog alert, just nine days after issuing the last heavy smog alert, the report said.

At this rate, Mayor Chen just might get his wish. For those of you who regularly take the bus, keep your eyes peeled on those particularly smoggy days; you may find yourself hobnobbing with the Mayor on your morning commute.

 Photos: New Express Daily