When the sun comes up in Beijing on Oct. 1, the Chinese government will aim to celebrate its 70th birthday under a brilliant blue sky — and factory bosses hope they can get through it without blanket closures.
During previous big events in a capital long plagued by festering pollution, the government has pulled out all the stops to guarantee air quality — seeding clouds for rain to wash the pollution away, restricting traffic, and shutting factories, shops and construction sites.
Beijing will close building sites, curb fireworks and restrict fuel sales ahead of the National Day celebrating the founding of the People's Republic of China. But government officials say the era of economically disruptive "one-size-fits-all" crackdowns is over, replaced by a more nuanced approach at a time when the country's economy is creaking under the pressure of its trade war with the United States.