BLUE SKIES: Shougang Group, one of the country’s largest steelmakers, honored its “green” commitment to the Olympics by ceasing its production activities in west Beijing and moving to coastal Hebei Province

Shougang Group, one of the country's largest steelmakers and one of Beijing's biggest polluters, recently relocated outside the capital to make way for a "green Olympics" and promote a sustainable environment in the future.

The nearly 90-year-old giant has almost finished clearing out its plant in Shijingshan District, western Beijing. Very few employees still work there at present, and most of the machinery is idle.

In the meantime, Shougang has been shaping up its new home in Caofeidian, a coastal city in Hebei Province about 220 km east of Beijing. A brand-new modern production plant that towers above the Bohai Sea coast will be put into operation this October.

"The massive migration drive is intended to return clear skies to Beijing," Wu Guangfeng, Director of Shougang's No. 3 Steelmaking Plant, told Beijing Review.

The 51-year-old Wu, who has worked for the company for 35 years, has seen Shougang become a cross-regional iron and steel titan that has integrated mining, machinery, construction and foreign trade. But steelmaking remains its core business. In Beijing, it owns three large steel plants and one iron plant.

In March this year, Shougang shut down two of its steel plants and four of its five blast furnaces at the ironworks, Wu said. The other plants would reduce their production to 27 percent of their normal capacities during the Olympic Games from August 8-24. The company would completely shutter them by 2010, according to Wu.

Zhu Jiming, President of Shougang Group, said the most visible result of the company's green efforts has been a reduction in the amount of soot. Beijing officials previously said the company had created 10 percent of the municipality's pollution, especially particles of soot. Some residents who live in western Beijing said the air has become much cleaner since the company moved out most of its production activities, and soot no longer covers their windows.