Beijing:Smoggy skies turned clear in parts of China yesterday after nearly a full week of severe pollution which saw scores of flights cancelled and forced the closure of schools in some areas.
The crisis spurred a call by Chinese President Xi Jinping for the country to develop clean energy sources during a meeting of a high-level government body on Wednesday.
Xi urged northern China to substitute natural gas and electricity for coal to heat buildings during the winter in order to reduce smog, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
More than 20 cities in the country's northeast, including Beijing, had been under a pollution "red alert" until yesterday.
Some 460 million people were affected by the blanket of smog, according to environmental group Greenpeace -- more than the entire population of the US.
Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, was the city hardest hit on Wednesday.
