BEIJING, June 11 -- Wednesday is not a public holiday, but hundreds of visitors came to the Olympic Green to take pictures in the morning.

    Sound bite: a Beijing citizen "I came here together with my friends. It's a fine day today. The weather and the temperature make me feel quite comfortable."

    According to the Beijing administration of environmental protection, Beijing has met half of its "blue sky" goal set for this year, or 130 days with excellent or fairly good air quality as of Tuesday.

    The figure means 23 more "blue sky" days than that of the same period last year, said Du Shaozhong, deputy head of the Beijing administration of environmental protection.

    Beijing has set a goal of achieving a minimum of 260 "blue sky" days for this year.

    "It's a good start, because the half of the year has yet to come," Du said.

    Beijing has a five-grade classification of air quality: a pollution reading below 50 is "excellent;" from 51 to 100 "fairly good;" 101 to 200 "slightly polluted;" 201 to 300 "poor;" and more than 301 "hazardous." Days with excellent or fairly good air quality are counted as "blue sky" days.

    In 2008 when the Olympic Games was held in Beijing, local authorities took a string of emission-cutting measures to improve the city's air quality, such as the temporary closure of some factories, the closure of heavily polluting plants and vehicle use restrictions.

    Du said the administration would focus on eliminating high-emission vehicles, controlling dust at construction sites and decreasing the use of coal in the city this year.

    Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Beijing.(XHTV)