Beijing to set up more air quality monitoring stations

BEIJING?-- China's capital will upgrade its air monitoring system, doubling the number of monitoring stations, the local environmental authority said on Monday.

According to Zhang Dawei, director of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center, more than 30 monitoring stations will be added. They will be located in schools, villages and mountains, among other places.

"After the upgrade... we will have more data about the city's air quality," he said.

Beijing now has 35 monitoring stations, which record levels of pollutants such as PM2.5, particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter.

Beijing is also planning to build a web of ventilation corridors to facilitate air flow and expel smog and pollutants.