China's politicians are increasingly nervous as heavy smog is back and enveloping the city, threatening another 'airpocalypse' over Beijing, and prompting the Chinese people to look to the government for fast solutions.

Air quality in Beijing in the winter months is tremendously bad and reports said late last week, PM2.5 readings hit 550 micrograms per cubic meter, more than 20 times higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) limit of 25ug-/m3.

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Reports said the winter months mean the coal-fired heating operations in the capital is in full swing and the locals are forced to give up walking and bicycling outside in favor of  the warmth in their petrol-run cars.

Environmental and health activists said coal and cars are the culprits that contribute to the already dangerous high levels of pollutants in China.

The Chinese people reportedly have become increasingly aware of the severe  health dangers the high pollution level poses to them and their kids' health and they will not take this sitting down. Numerous protests against the government's inaction on the toxic air problems have been staged by locals and the Chinese leadership is starting to feel anxious.

The Chinese, most of them, were left in the dark about the long-term deleterious effects of the soot in the air to their and their children's health until January 2013 when the first 'airpocalypse' happened. Air pollution level shot off the charts and lingered in the whole month of January.

With the help of international environmental and health advocates and scientific health publications, the Chinese people now know the serious long-term damage of the poisonous particles in the air that they breathe to their lungs and heart,

The Chinese people reportedly also know now that in 2010 alone, around 1.2 million of their countrymen died prematurely from diseases caused by severe air pollution.

As part of this public awareness, the Chinese have been consistently checking the level of air pollution through PM 2.5 reading through apps which are set in their mobile phones.

With this new awareness, the China leadership is in a quandary on how exactly they would deal with this gargantuan problem and at the same time, face the ire of their constituents,

Reports said the government is seriously concerned that these localized pollution protests might  coalesce into one organized national movement oppositional to the state.

In March 2014, Premier Li Keqiang declared a 'war on pollution'  and implemented, for the rest of the year, several measures to bring down the air pollution to manageable levels. In November last year during the APEC meeting, the leadership managed to contain the problem by shutting down factories and pulling out cars from the streets.

Political observers said that should another 'airpocalypse' happen this year, the Chinese people might go out on the streets again and demand that the government should do more in its fight against pollution.

Some of the Chinese have already shared their sentiments saying that if the China government was able to provide blue skies for the dignitaries in the APEC summit, then all the more the leadership should do all its best to provide clean air for their people who are the ones who are breathing the air day in and day out.

Tagscoal, APEC