City is prime example of how to beat pollution

As a resident of Xiaoyi, Shanxi Province, Shi Fengqi recalls the many chimneys that billowed thick dust and smoke as a fact of life.

It was a scene that earned the city a place as one of the 16 most polluted in the province last year - putting it on the State Environmental Protection Administration's (SEPA) blacklist with air quality below Grade III and rendering it unlivable for humans.

Resorting to measures like layering windows with plastic to block out pollutants and particulates were futile, said Shi.