Chris Blythe: The smog in Beijing shows how far the UK has come in 50 years

I write this in Beijing, on the day that the first red alert was issued about the smog level. Schools were closed and traffic severely restricted. Today, private cars with even registration numbers are allowed on the road. Tomorrow, if the red alert continues, it will be the turn of the odd-numbered cars. Everyone is advised to wear face masks to mitigate the impact of the polluted air on their health.

It has to be seen to be believed. Only if you are over 60 are you likely to have remembered how bad it was in the UK in the 1950s and early 1960s before the Clean Air Act began to have an effect.

So it was not the best time to be in China visiting our members and renewing our alliances with some of the key construction and government organisations we work with over here.

Our hosts have been very keen to point out the smog and refer to what it was like 50 years ago in the UK. It does make you appreciate the progress we have made in that time. We do still get those lingering high pressure systems which allow our much lower levels of pollution to build up over a couple of days, but it seems like nothing compared to this. At least the sky is still blue.

In Beijing there is no sky, just a dull greyness starting at the ground and going on forever. You feel as though you could cut it with a knife and you can smell the air everywhere. Even offices and hotels are not insulated from the bitterness that builds in the throat or the stinging sensation in the eyes. It is beyond being uncomfortable. Before coming here I thought the facemask business was a bit of an exaggeration.

The residents of Beijing are waiting for the weather to change to get some relief, which might happen in a couple of days. But looking at the forecast it looks like the smog will be back in no time.

The demands for energy, the vast amount of coal-fired power stations as well as the number of vehicles all contribute to the smog. It is difficult to see a solution in the short term that will not have a severe economic impact. Just today, travelling by road has been bearable because the traffic has flowed as opposed to being jammed up everywhere. A journey that took us an hour yesterday before the restrictions took just 20 minutes today.

I am lucky I will be away from here in a day or so and back into relatively clean air, even though we might think it anything but.

For the average Beijing resident, they are stuck with it until either it gets sorted or it kills them; only time will tell which way it will go. But these sorts of conditions are going to be here for most of the winter.