As of July 16, Beijing had enjoyed 132 days of "blue sky" this year, or 66 percent of all days under monitoring, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau for Environmental Protection.

Since the beginning of July, the bureau said, 15 consecutive days with good air quality were recorded in the Chinese capital as of Saturday.

The first six months witnessed 117 days with clear skies, or 64.6 percent of all days under monitoring, 13 days more than the year-earlier level, according to the bureau.

A local meteorologist said frequent cold air movements and frequent rainfall in the past several months were conducive to dispelling pollutants. The favorable weather conditions contributed significantly to the city's air pollution control plan."

Local environmental protection officials also ascribed good air quality to the government's efforts to control air pollution, such as moving polluting sources out of the city proper and emission control, among others.

According to Beijing's annual air pollution control plan, the city aims to have 230 days with clear skies this year, as against 228 days last year.  

(Xinhua News Agency July 19, 2005)