A person performs morning exercise in front of the barely visible Oriental Pearl TV Tower, which is shrouded by smog, in Shanghai on Friday. Photo: IC

 
Heavy haze has shrouded half the country for several days with central and eastern regions hit hardest. Although cool winds scattered some of the smog yesterday, the shock won't blow away any time soon.

Everyone knows China's air pollution is quite serious. Residents in major cities in the north part of China have long been complaining about the lingering smog. The central and local governments of smog-stricken areas have felt the pressure to curb air pollution. The State Council released its Action Plan for Air Pollution Prevention and Control in September. The Beijing municipal government has vowed to tackle the issue within five years. The public will keep a close eye on fulfillment of these promises.

It seems the challenge is harsher than we expected. The choking air has generated serious public complaints, which is understandable, but one other thing is also certain: Battling air pollution cannot rely on government alone. It must be tackled together, by all of society.

The macroeconomic background for the intense haze is clear. The country has been blanketed through a wave of industrialization and urbanization over a short period of time. As construction sites mushroomed nationwide and the country was crowned "world factory," its ecological environment faced unbearable pressure.

A backward production model is blamed for pollution. To eliminate this outdated system needs cooperation from the government as well as the public.

In the past, governments at various levels didn't take much interest in their performance at protecting the environment. They should lend an ear to the sharp criticisms, but asking the government to take all the responsibility confuses the facts of the situation. A few public figures who oppose green values still press the government for more blue sky days. That will not help efforts to fight against pollution.

The modernization of the US and Europe is almost complete, while China has reached the middle stage at best. Although China's big cities have become polluted, people are unlikely to move to small cities or the countryside. This is the very attitude of the Chinese who try to strike a balance between modernization and ecology.

Opinion leaders can criticize the government, but they should also set up an example when advocating environmental protection.

We need a green China, and to be more specific, a green modernized China. We must realize this is hard to achieve for a major developing power like China. It would be naïve to believe that as long as the GDP does not come at the first place, China's environmental pollution problem will be resolved. The current situation is that smog continues to hit even when the government has attached importance to the problem and GDP no longer ranks at the top. Both the government and the public need to be determined in this anti-pollution battle.