Southwestern Chongqing Municipality, known as China's "foggy city," is exploring ways to clean up its skies in a move to overcome its bad reputation as one of the country's severely polluted cities.

Major pollution-fighting measures include reducing dust from roads, construction sites and industrial enterprises, limiting exhaust emissions from restaurants and building a "coal-free zone" in the municipality's downtown area.

Air quality in Chongqing has improved remarkably in the past six years since 1997, when it became China's fourth municipality under the direst leadership of the central government, or the State Council, along with Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, due to their substantial pollution-fighting efforts.

However, environmental protection authorities warn that dust pollution in urban areas continues to rise, with particulate matter as the main culprit to blame.

(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2003)