Pollution in China (19 images)

Tiananmen Square sits under a thick blanket of smog, which the U.S. Embassy's daily air index has rated as hazardous, darkening the afternoon sun in Beijing January 18, 2012. Air pollution in China's capital has been so bad that the air quality monitoring system used by the U.S. Embassy here has described the pollution as being off the scale. The World Bank reports that 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in China, with Beijing being the 10th most polluted capital. UPI/Stephen Shaver

Afternoon traffic creeps along a major ring road circling Beijing December 6, 2011. Thick haze continued to shroud China's capital for a third day, prompting state media to issue hazardous air pollution alerts after initially downplaying the weather as "fog." UPI/Stephen Shaver

Tiananmen Square sits under a thick blanket of smog, which the U.S. Embassy's daily air index has rated as hazardous, darkening the afternoon sun in Beijing January 18, 2012. Air pollution in China's capital has been so bad that the air quality monitoring system used by the U.S. Embassy here has described the pollution as being off the scale. The World Bank reports that 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in China, with Beijing being the 10th most polluted capital. UPI/Stephen Shaver

Chinese walk to work midday as heavy smog hangs over downtown Beijing December 5, 2011. China's air pollution standards are too lax, a senior environmental official said in comments published last week, the highest level comment following public complaints that government authorities are understating the extent of pollution that envelops China's capital. UPI/Stephen Shaver