When the air closes the trip

China's air-pollution red alert: what it closes and when to change plans

In short

There's a red pollution alert while I'm in China — what does it actually mean for me?

A heavy-air-pollution red alert is the top of a city's pollution alert scale. On Beijing's official plan it can put schools on flexible schedules or suspend classes, ban the oldest petrol cars while limiting others to odd/even alternate-day driving, and halt outdoor construction and haulage. A red alert is triggered when the forecast daily-mean citywide AQI runs above 200 for four days with two days over 300, or is forecast to reach 500. For a visitor it is the cue to move sightseeing indoors, expect changed traffic, and mask up outdoors.

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Applies to

Any foreign visitor in a Chinese city during a heavy-pollution alert, especially if your plans are outdoor-heavy or you rely on taxis and ride-hailing.

Check before you rely on it

These thresholds and measures are Beijing's municipal plan — a city-level official authority. Other cities set their own numbers and measures, so treat these as the worked example and check the local plan. The national air-quality standard was not separately opened for this guide.

Information checked: 2026-07-25

“Red alert” sounds dramatic, and it does drive real closures — but not the ones most visitors assume. This guide gives the AQI numbers behind the colour and what a red alert actually shuts down, straight from an official municipal contingency plan.

Back to recovery The weather warning colours

The thresholds

What tips the alert from yellow to red

Set by the forecast daily-mean citywide AQI. These are the Beijing plan's numbers — other cities differ.

Yellow

Forecast daily-mean citywide AQI above 200 for two days (48 hours) or more.

Orange

Forecast daily-mean citywide AQI above 200 for three days (72 hours) or more, below the red conditions.

Red

Forecast daily-mean citywide AQI above 200 for four days (96 hours) or more, with two days (48 hours) or more over 300 — or any forecast daily-mean AQI reaching 500.

Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government (english.beijing.gov.cn official English portal) — Heavy Air Pollution Contingency Plan of Beijing Municipality (source dated 2020-07-23 (English portal page); read July 25, 2026)

What a red alert does

The three things that reach a visitor

Schools, cars and outdoor sites — the measures you actually notice, from the red-alert list.

Schools

Kindergartens, primary and secondary schools may adopt flexible class schedules or suspend classes altogether. If you are travelling with children in school, this is the one that reaches you directly.

Cars on the road

Older light-duty petrol cars (China I and China II standards) are banned outright, and China III cars run on alternate days by odd/even licence-plate number. Electric vehicles are exempt. Expect noticeably lighter — and differently mixed — traffic, which affects taxis and ride-hailing.

Outdoor work and sites

Outdoor brush and spray painting, gunite slope stabilisation, demolition, stone and concrete cutting and earthwork are all suspended, and transport of construction waste, earth and gravel (bar clean-energy vehicles) is banned. Building and roadworks near you go quiet.

The published facts

What the contingency plan actually says

Each fact links the official source and the day we read it. Sources read 2026-07-25.

What tips an alert from yellow to red

Under the Beijing municipal contingency plan the alert level is set by the forecast daily-mean citywide air quality index. Yellow is AQI above 200 for 48 hours or more; orange is above 200 for 72 hours or more; red is above 200 for 96 hours or more with 48 hours or more over 300, or any forecast daily-mean AQI reaching 500. Red is the top of the scale.

Alert-level thresholds

A red alert can suspend school

On a red alert the plan says kindergartens, primary and secondary schools may adopt flexible class schedules or suspend classes altogether. It is the clearest sign of how serious a red alert is treated as being.

Red alert — schools

Half the cars come off the road

A red alert bans the oldest petrol cars (China I and II standards) outright and puts China III cars on odd/even alternate-day driving by plate number, with electric vehicles exempt. The traffic — and the taxi and ride-hailing supply you rely on — shifts noticeably.

Red alert — vehicles

Outdoor construction and haulage stop

A red alert suspends outdoor painting, gunite slope work, demolition, stone and concrete cutting and earthwork, and bans construction-waste, earth and gravel haulage except by clean-energy vehicles. If a site near your hotel goes silent, this is why.

Red alert — construction & transport

In short

Red-alert questions travellers ask

What it means, what closes, whether it is the same everywhere, and whether to change plans.

What is a red alert for air pollution in China?

It is the top level of the heavy-air-pollution alert scale. On the Beijing municipal plan, a red alert is triggered when the forecast daily-mean citywide AQI is above 200 for four days (96 hours) or more with two of those days over 300, or when it is forecast to reach 500. Yellow and orange are the lower rungs.

What does a red alert actually close?

On the Beijing plan, a red alert can put schools on flexible schedules or suspend classes, bans the oldest petrol cars while restricting others to odd/even alternate-day driving, and suspends outdoor construction and the haulage that serves it. Outdoor plans and the traffic around you both change.

Are these rules the same in every Chinese city?

No — and this is the key caveat. The thresholds and measures above are from Beijing's own contingency plan, a city-level official authority. Other cities run their own heavy-pollution plans with their own numbers and measures, so treat Beijing's as the worked example, not a nationwide rule. Check the local plan for the city you are in.

Should I change my plans when there is a red alert?

For outdoor sightseeing, assume yes: if a red alert can suspend school outdoor activity and halt outdoor work, an outdoor-heavy day is worth rethinking, and a good mask and indoor alternatives are sensible. Watch the AQI figure yourself, and remember driving restrictions can change how easily you get a taxi.

Is the red air-pollution alert the same as the weather warning colours?

It uses the same blue-to-red idea but it is a separate system. The heavy-pollution alert here comes from a city's air-pollution contingency plan and is keyed to the AQI. The meteorological warning signals (typhoon, rainstorm, high temperature and so on) are the China Meteorological Administration's colour ladder — see our weather-warning-signals guide for those.

Not confirmed

What no opened source would let us say

The claims we could not source from a page we opened, or that vary by city, are printed here rather than asserted.

The thresholds and measures on this page are the Beijing municipal contingency plan's, attributed to that city-level official authority. They are not a single nationwide standard — other cities set their own heavy-pollution alert numbers and measures, so treat these as the worked example and check the local plan where you are.
The national ambient air-quality standard (GB 3095-2012) and any Ministry of Ecology and Environment national heavy-pollution-response text were not separately opened for this guide. So the AQI band definitions are used only as the Beijing plan states them, not asserted as a nationwide legal standard.
Whether a specific attraction, park or tour will actually close on a given alert is not something any opened source states for visitors — the plan speaks to schools, driving and outdoor work, not to each tourist site. Check the site's own notice on the day.

The weather warning colours

Blue, yellow, orange, red — the separate meteorological ladder for typhoon, heat, cold and more.

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If your flight is delayed or cancelled

The airline-side flow when weather or anything else disrupts your trip.

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