China's capitol Beijing has just announced an all-new high with its pollution crisis: It has issued its first ever "Red Alert" over the bustling city's smog.

The city will go into shutdown, closing schools and limiting construction and other activities, to protect its residents from the toxic effects of the poisonous fog from Dec. 8 until Dec. 10.

While this is the first time that China's capitol has issued such a warning — the highest of its kind — the country has been choking on smog for decades. Just last month, smog levels in China crept up to about 50 times more than the World Health Organization deems safe.

China has also been heavily scrutinized as the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases from coal. Data released in early November suggest China burns 17% more coal per year than its government had reported. This means that it releases nearly a billion tons more carbon dioxide — a potent greenhouse gas — into the atmosphere than was previously thought, The New York Times reports.

An estimated 4,000 people die every day from pollution in China. Here are 25 photos of what day-to-day life is like in a cloud of toxic smog.

November 3 was such a hazy day Harbin, a city in the northeast corner of China, that this boy wore a mask to feed the pigeons outside.

China Stringer Network/Reuters/Reuters

Some kindergartens and schools were closed that day.

China Stringer Network/Reuters

Still, many people just go about their business, even when the pollution reaches dangerous levels.

CDIC/Reuters

China Stringer Network/Reuters

The skyline of Shenyang looked dark and gray on this polluted November day.

China Stringer Network/Reuters

China Stringer Network/Reuters/Reuters

An aerial view of the smog shrouding Rizhao, a coastal city that has come under fire for not providing its residents with enough information about its air quality.

China Stringer Network/Reuters

Source: CNN

On hazy days in Shanghai, there's no moon and no stars.

Aly Song/Reuters

The city's skyscrapers just disappear into the mist.

Carlos Barria/Reuters

Sometimes the smog in Beijing is so bad, the buildings are hard to make out.

Kim Kyung Hoon/Reuters

On an especially hazy fall day in Beijing, this woman improvised a mask.

REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

In many Chinese cities, wearing masks to try to protect against dangerous levels of pollution has become eerily normal.

China Daily/Reuters

China Stringer Network/Reuters

Unfortunately, there's little evidence that most masks actually help.

"People just pretend ... It’s mass behavior,” Wong Chit Ming, a researcher at Hong Kong University's school of public health, told Quartz.

Kim Kyung Hoon/Reuters

Source: Quartz

Sales of the industrial-grade face masks worn by construction workers in the US have spiked in China, where people wear them just to step outside. Such masks are more effective — and much less popular — than cotton ones.

REUTERS/Aly Song

Source: CNBC, Quartz

The cotton masks make it easier to breathe, but don't block out the smallest particles of pollution, which can do the most damage.

Aly Song/Reuters

Source: Quartz

Aly Song/Reuters

For some, masks are just a fashion accessory. Designer masks featured prominently in a recent Chinese runway show.

Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Source: LA Times

The US Embassy in Beijing warns that fabric masks do not protect the lungs. It recommends disposable respirators instead.

REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Source: Department of State

During the 2014 "Guangzhu (naked) Run" — which aims to promote environmentally-friendly lifestyles — one participant was spotted wearing a gas mask as he jogged through the Olympic Forest Park in Beijing.

REUTERS/China Daily

Article by: Tech Insider