BEIJING - A large part of China will continue to suffer from smog and the air will remain seriously polluted in the coming night, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said Wednesday.

As of 10 a.m. Wednesday, PM 2.5 was still the main pollutant in Beijing, with a reading of 310 micrograms per cubic meter on average during the last 24 hours. The figure in the previous day was 354 micrograms per cubic meter.

According to the ministry, areas totaling 1.43 million square kilometers were shrouded in smog on Tuesday, including Beijing and Tianjin municipalities, as well as Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei and Hunan provinces.