With smog dominating our life and headlines, sales of air purifiers and masks are flying off the shelves. Liu Zhihua explores how people cope with the pollution.

For 30-year-old Beijing resident Xu Qiong, the first thing he does after waking up every morning is to check the air quality index on his smartphone, and then decide whether to wear a mask.

He is not alone. That's the norm for many people in Beijing, Shanghai and many regions in China that are often covered by thick smog and haze.