china\'s filthy air prompts mask rush and sale of fresh air in cans

For the fourth time this year in northern China, residents in Beijing have been suffocated by toxic smog.
According to the state, China\'s air has not been so bad since 1954.
Run People\'s Daily.
In the record of dirty air, 24 days of air were classified as hazardous air for the first 29 days of January.
The sky is still not clear.
Air quality index from the United StatesS.
Embassy, designed by the United StatesS.
According to the Environmental Protection Bureau, the concentration of fine particles is called PM 2.
5, has been hovering at the top of the scale since last Friday.
It is within a range described as \"dangerous\" and requires protective measures.
Visibility is reduced to 100 yards in central Beijing.
Travel was interrupted as more than 100 flights were canceled, when millions began their journey home during the Spring Festival.
The air is so bad that rich Chinese entrepreneur Chen Guangbiao is selling fresh air with soft drinking cans similar to bottled drinking water.
Each can costs about 5 yuan or 80 cents.
Chen is known for his charitable donations and promotional gimmicks.
He said he hopes to raise environmental awareness among government officials and citizens by selling canned fresh air.
\"If we don\'t pay attention to environmental protection, each of us will wear gas masks and carry oxygen tanks on the street after 10 years,\" Cheng told ABC News . \".
\"By then, my canned fresh air will be essential for families,\" he predicted . \".
The current smog is blamed for a sharp rise in the number of respiratory diseases, especially among children and the elderly.
A pediatric hospital in downtown Beijing treated a record 9,000 children this month.
They are mainly patients with flu, pneumonia, bronchitis and asthma, Xinhua reported.
Masks have become a new fashion on the streets of Beijing.
The number of online searches for the word \"mask\" surged 5,304.
According to data released by Taobao, China\'s largest online shopping site, 3% compared with last month.
In Beijing alone, more than 100,000 masks are on sale every day this month.
The normal medical mask does not provide adequate protection.
Some Beijing citizens wore gas masks and took tougher measures.
In an office in Beijing, as many as 20 workers wear protective headgear at their desks, AFP reported. Today by mid-
In the morning, the government sent a text message to millions of mobile phones warning residents to stay indoors.
Beijing Environmental Protection Department temporarily closed 103 high
The emissions factory ordered the closure of 30% government vehicles on Tuesday.
Premier Wen Jiabao has made public calls to reduce emissions and raise awareness of environmental protection.
The measures will continue until Thursday, when the weather forecast predicts that strong winds will sweep Beijing and blow away the smog.
Air pollution is also one of the hottest topics on the Internet.
Pan Shiyi, a prominent real estate developer and Beijing Municipal People\'s Congress representative, launched an online poll on Sina Weibo on Tuesday calling for a \"clean air act \".
In three hours, more than 25,000 of network users gave 99% support to his proposal.
On the same day, Pan was criticized by the public for continuing to operate a large construction site in the center of Beijing.