Beijing will be in "Olympic mode" when it tries to control air pollution during meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation later this year in Beijing's Huairou district. The concrete plan is being developed and will be discussed with neighboring cities and provinces next.

The blue sky during the 17 days of the 2008 Beijing Olympics from August 8 to August 24 left a deep impression on many people. Back then, Beijing's air quality was up to standard every day; pollution level was decreased 50 percent, the best level for the city in10 years.

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Peng Yingdeng, an expert in urban environment management from the ministry, said the APEC event will be held in the fall, which typically is Beijing's fog period with adverse conditions for dispersal, while the 2008 Olympics took place during the city's rainy season and coincided with ideal pollutant diffusion conditions, so it will be more difficult to control air pollution this time around.

However, comparing to 2008 Beijing Olympics, Beijing has carried out a series of plans and measures to be able to control air pollution more maturely, Peng said.

Traffic control to cut emissions based on vehicles' license plate numbers might be one of the measures in air pollution control, said Peng.

"From the perspective of government, the easiest emergency measure is traffic restriction," Peng said.

Zhuang Zhidong, deputy head of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, said Beijing had the first meeting on air pollution prevention with other five provinces including Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, and Shandong. The second meeting will be held this month, and detailed measures will be released.

A thorough and effective system of air pollution control with other cities and provinces cannot be formed immediately, Zhuang said. The first thing is to build an effective consultation system, and regional emergency joint action can be launched in neighboring cities and provinces, he added.