Heavy smog again blanketed northern China during this past week's National Day holiday, with straw burning mostly blamed.
The state environmental protection bureau says they identified some 400 burning sites in nine different provinces in the north of China during the period, up over 16 percent from the same period last year.
Taikang County in the province of Henan is one area where straw burning has created major pollution problems.
Chen Huijuan with the local environmental protection bureau has been patrolling four different townships from 9:00am to 11:00pm every day over the past few weeks.
"My daily work now is to check whether township officials responsible for implementing the straw burning ban will go out to farmlands every day like they're supposed to."
