MANMADE FOG: Heavy smog blankets Yongqing County in north China's Hebei Province on February 17 (ZHANG YUYU)

An annual holiday fireworks show in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, was halted this year in order to reduce air pollution and cut government expenditures. The show last year cost 10 million yuan ($1.61 million), or nearly 10 percent of the city's total annual budget, to be put on last year.

Cities including Luoyang and Zhengzhou in central China's Henan Province and Haikou in south China's Hainan Province also canceled their routine fireworks shows on the Lantern Festival on February 24.

While flammable fireworks are gradually abandoned, electronic fireworks have gained some popularity with people who wish to celebrate the holiday but are hesitant to purchase traditional fireworks.

Electronic fireworks, which comprise of light bulbs and a speaker in the "detonator" to mimic blasts, imitate traditional varieties of firecrackers, yet do not contribute to air pollution nor leave behind any debris.

According to an electronic fireworks retailer in Beijing, this year has seen a surge in sales.

They first hit the Chinese market a decade ago, but have struggled for popularity until this year, when smog blanketed more than 30 cities in central and eastern parts of China in January and calls were made to limit the use of flammable fireworks.

Figures from Taobao.com, China's biggest e-commerce website, showed that the sales volume for electronic fireworks in the week before the Spring Festival went up by 271.3 percent compared to the same period last year.

"Setting off fireworks during the Spring Festival is a Chinese tradition. We should ensure this tradition lives on," said Gao Wei, a folklore expert and Director of the Beijing Society of History and Geography.

"Electronic fireworks and other alternatives are good ideas that keep the tradition alive in an environmentally friendly way," Gao said, suggesting the government should organize more fireworks shows that are professionally arranged and discourage the public sale of fireworks to reduce the risk of accidents.

Cutting emissions

Although many Chinese have discussed the problem posed by maintaining the celebratory fireworks custom in the face of air pollution problems, many others think more deep-rooted problems need to be tackled to reduce smog.

According to the CAS, the prolonged smog in China in the past two months was caused by a combination of intensive coal burning, car emissions, cooking pollutants and a particular weather pattern that creates an inversion layer over low-lying cities.

Among the factors, car emissions were blamed for nearly a quarter of Beijing's PM2.5, and coal burning contributed to 20 percent, according to the CAS, which suggested greater efforts to reduce emissions from diesel-powered cars and raise fuel quality.

In the wake of pressing demand for cleaner fuel and vehicles, Beijing raised its automobile-emission standard to the National V standard on February 1, making it the strictest in the nation.

The National V standard requires sulfur content in the fuel to be no more than 10 parts per million (ppm).

Li Kunsheng, Director of the bureau's Department of Motor Vehicles, said that compared with previous automobile emission standards, the stricter version will reduce emissions of nitrogen monoxide by 40 percent and the concentration of PM2.5 will decrease accordingly.

Li said that considering the number of registered automobiles in the city has exceeded 5.2 million and is expected to reach 6 million by 2015, implementation of the stricter emission standards is important.

According to Hao Jiming, a professor at Tsinghua University's School of Environment, raising the quality of gasoline and diesel and enforcing stricter emission standards are the most efficient and economical measures to improve air quality.

Though Beijing has now adopted the strictest fuel standards in the nation, experts warn that the poor quality diesel used in neighboring cities will hinder the capital's efforts to improve air quality.

In fact, different fuel standards are in place in different parts of China. For example, Shanghai and east China's Jiangsu Province are continuing with the National IV standard that limits sulfur content to 50 ppm.

The State Council, China's cabinet, on February 6 released a timetable to upgrade fuel quality. It stipulates that the National V standard for automobile gasoline and diesel will be implemented nationwide before the end of 2017.

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