Barbecue-related activities and cooking in open stoves in public, densely-populated places in China would soon be prohibited to limit the smog but could be a bane to street food hawkers and vendors.

Hit by a persistent smog that first breached the capital's atmosphere in January, the Chinese government is seriously considering banning the open-cooking method using charcoal and other forms of burning in key cities.

In what could be a bane to street-vendors as well as to street-food patrons, the country's Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) on Wednesday said it has issued draft guidelines telling major cities to implement rules that would prohibit holding on barbecues in densely populated urban areas.

According to an unidentified official from MEP cited by People's Daily Online, the public is being urged to adopt a "more environmental-friendly way of life." These include cutting energy consumption in cooking their food as well as their food preparation techniques in order to lessen smoke emissions and ultimately reduce their contribution to the country's overall pollution dilemma.

Meanwhile, China has likewise imposed deadlines on the polluting industries to clean up their emissions.

Effective Mar. 1, the thermal power, iron and steel, petrochemical, cement, non-ferrous metal and chemical industries are required to gradually comply with special international emission limits on airborne pollutants.

"The annual amount of smoke and dust from these six industries contributes more than 70 per cent of total emissions," Chai Fahe, vice-president of the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, told China Daily.

Although no exact limit was detailed, it seems China will challenge itself to adhere to above-average stricter limits.

"Take the dust emitted by coal burning boilers in thermal power plants as an example. The normal standard of dust concentration is 30 milligrams per cubic meter. But the special limit to be applied by the 47 cities is only 20 mg per cu m, which is the strictest in the world."

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