Chongqing Municipality, China's newest, established in 1997, is in the process of closing down nearly 700 rock quarries in a bid to curb the quantity of dust in the city.

Sources with the municipal government said that Chongqing has already shut down 2,200 heavily polluting enterprises. It now plans to close 554 quarries within a radius of 713.9 square kilometers by June, 2004. An additional 145 quarries will be closed within ten years.

Chongqing, an old industrial base in southwest China, has traditionally been known as "Smoggy City" due to the dust and heavy pollution blanketing the city.

(People's Daily February 6, 2003)