More than half of the flowers on display for the National Day festivities in downtown Beijing will be replaced with fresh blooms as the city braces for the APEC meeting next month.

Earlier the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry put on display 11 large-scale parterres on the Tian'anmen Square and along the Chang'an Avenue to create a festive atmosphere for the one-week National Day holiday.

Tian'anmen Square is located in the heart of Beijing while Chang'an Avenue passes through the political districts of Beijing, with the main offices of the Chinese government quartered along the street.

The bureau on Wednesday said it will replace 450,000 of the 750,000 pots of the national day flowers and transform them to feature the APEC themes.

To greet the annual APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, the city has repaired major roads, renovated old buildings and whitewashed exteriors of buildings along major streets.

The city will also adopt a special air pollution control plan for the APEC meeting, which features temporary closure of factories in the event of a pollution warning, in an effort to avoid heavy smog.