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An environmental protection official in the Chinese city of Langfang is about to release his second smog-themed novel in an effort to draw attention to China's serious pollution problems.


Li Yuanchuan, deputy chief of environmental protection for the city, plans to write a trilogy of books about smog in China. His first, Smog Is Coming, was published in last June, and featured a robber who used the cover of pollution to commit crimes.

“Governments and companies play key roles in the campaign to tackle smog and pollution,” Li told local news outlet Thepaper.cn. “But a new anti-smog lifestyle can be created only when the public takes action according to the law and together…works with governments and companies to drive less, burn less coal, light fewer fireworks and burn less rubbish.”


The plot of the new novel (called The Pains of Smog), China Dialogue writes, centers around a heroic environmental protection bureaucrat who stands up against a corrupt government system in defense of the environment. The next installment will be titled Smog Confusion.

Langfang is located just outside Beijing and is known as one of the most polluted cities in China. Though air quality has improved this year overall, according to The Associated Press, smog across the country and especially in industrial cities continues to pose a health risk to locals.