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Severe smog sends director Jia Zhangke packing from Beijing

A film director's post announcing his decision to leave Beijing to escape its hazardous smog had some people fuming on social media over the weekend.

"Smog, [I've] decided to move from Beijing," wrote Jia Zhangke on Sina Weibo Saturday.

The director of the critically acclaimed A Touch of Sin (2013) and Mountains May Depart (2015) also touched on pollution issues in Smog Journeys (2014), a short film for Greenpeace Asia that spotlights the effects of heavy smog in Northeast China.

But it was his decision to move that touched a nerve on social media as smog continued to choke vast regions of the Chinese Mainland.

Some criticized Jia for announcing his personal decision in such a high-profile way.

"[Jia] feels that he has become too good to breath smog. He wins international awards for making films about the dark side of people's lives in North China. I loathe people like him," commented Web user "caishanghai."

A native of Shanxi Province - China's largest coal producer - Jia reposted the comment, where he pointed out the difference between coal ash and the PM2.5 particulate matter that characterizes smog.

"There is no reason to assume people who have lived with coal ash should get used to smog," Jia wrote in response.

Some showed support of Jia, welcoming him to move to the less-polluted regions in South China.

"Instead of abusing people who choose to face pollution issues and other dark sides of our lives, people should put that energy into pushing authorities to tackle the smog issue," wrote a Weibo user.