most gas subsidies now phased out. In 2017, Beijing mandated that dozens of northern areas wind down the use of coal-fired stoves in favour of electric and natural gas-powered systems. China's central government allocated funds to refit stoves, but subsidies faded after three years and additional aid has drastically declined, local media reported this week. In Xushui, a district in Hebei roughly 100 kilometres (62 miles) outside Beijing, villagers told AFP they avoided turning on the heating because it drained their incomes. "Regular folks can't afford it. Spending 1,000 yuan (USD 143) per month on heat -- no one can stand that," a resident in his 60s told AFP at a farmers' market. "Everyone likes that (the air) is clean. There's not one person that doesn't like it," he said, asking not to be named for fear of "trouble". "But... the cost of clean (air) is high," he added. On the clear, sunny day AFP visited, the warmest temperature was just under six degrees Celsius, with lows of minus seven.

Restaurant worker Yin Chunlan said that her elderly in-laws need to pay up to 7,000 yuan per year to heat their six-room village home. Yin, 48, lives in an apartment in town and says her annual bill is a third of that. "But it's not the same in the village," she told AFP. "They have to set their heating much higher, and the temperature still isn't as warm, so it wastes gas and wastes money." (Bssnews)