Air-quality center opens to private observers

BEIJING - As part of a push to lay to rest public doubts about the Chinese capital's efforts to monitor air quality, seven people came to the city's environmental-monitoring center on Tuesday.

It was the start of regular trips that are to take 40 visitors in two groups to the center every Tuesday in the hope of giving them a better understanding of how air-quality data is collected and analyzed, according to the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau.

It was also the first time the city's environmental watchdog has opened its doors to individual guests since it was established in 1974, although 340 schools, companies and other organizations have taken educational tours of it since 1997.