Special report: 2008 Olympic Games

    By sportswriter Ma Xiangfei 

    BEIJING, July 29 (Xinhua) -- A little wind alone is able to improve the air quality in Beijing, a city which is endeavoring to clean up its air for the upcoming Olympic Games.

    Du Shaozhong, vice director of Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, compared weather conditions on Tuesday with that on Monday as he explained a worrying air condition in the past week after the city pulled two million cars off the road each day for the past week.

    "In the past several days, the API were 55,65,67,85,113,110,118,113 and 96, " he said. API is short for Air Pollutant Index to indicate air quality. An API rating of 0-50 (level I) indicates excellent air quality, 51-100 (level II) good quality, 101-200 (level III) slight pollution.

    "Yesterday the wind speed is one meter per second and today the wind speed is three meters per second. So I expect the API today to be around 80," he said.

    "Weather conditions can play an important role in controlling the air quality," he told the throng of reporters.

    Beijing experienced a rare drought of rain in the past week when hot and humid weather produced a persisting haze shrouding the city that is busy putting final touches on the preparations for the August 8-24 Games.

    And it does not look good in a picture.

    "Pictures cannot reflect reality. They are not accurate. I really urge you not to use photos to base your assessment of air quality," Du said.

    Despite the hazy vision, Du said, the density of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matters in the city air has kept falling, scoring a 20-percent year-on-year decrease ever since the July 20 traffic ban on private cars with odd and even license plate numbers on alternate days.

    Other pre-Games environment measures included closing polluting factories in Beijing and some neighboring provinces, suspension of most urban construction projects, and removal of vehicles failing to meet emission standards.

    Meteorological expert believed Beijing's air quality will improve when cooler days come.

    "The temperature and humidity will gradually drop and we will have better air quality and more comfortable weather in August," said Guo Hu, director of the Beijing Meteorological Observatory. One day before the opening of the Games is "Liqiu" , the first day of autumn on lunar calendar.

    Guo said that based on 30 years of data, the average temperature for the Games will be 24.9 degrees Celsius.

    Visiting International Olympic Committee Olympic Games executive director Gilbert Felli expressed his confidence in Beijing's air quality.

    "Most of the people see the fog, they say it's pollution. But we know here it's not pollution. It's mist, a fact of the nature," Felli said. "Probably more rains will come, and it will get better."

    Echoing Felli, international environment group Greenpeace China campaign director Lo Sze Ping acknowledged China's efforts in improving the environment.

    "We are glad to see that Beijing has improved its infrastructure in its preparation for the Olympics," Ping told a press conference.

    Greenpeace said in a report that Beijing had adopted measures to improve the environment, such as building five new subway lines, upgrading domestic heating methods with geothermal heating systems, improving water treatment and reducing its reliance on fossil fuels and raising its emissions standard for new vehicles to EURO IV, one of the most stringent in the world.