Beijing Orders 1,200 Factories to Close or Cut Output Amid Smog

Beijing municipal government ordered more than 1,200 factories in the printing, construction materials and petrochemical industries citywide to either suspend or cut output after earlier issuing this year’s first red alert warning for severely high levels of air pollution. Under a contingency plan for severe air pollution, the city shut down more than 700 plants with production procedures that will pollute air and required 500 more to reduce production, according to a statement posted on the municipal government website on Saturday.