Editor's note: China Daily reporters Zheng Xin and Zhang Yue find out how residents in the capital coped with the thick smog over the past week.

"When the smog hit the city last Thursday, I never thought it would last this long," said Cai Yunfen, a 29-year-old housewife in Beijing.

"We first thought the hazy air would just linger for one or two days, and the blue sky will come back with a gust of wind or cold air, but it persisted for a whole week."