Face mask village

Local media has recently questioned the effectiveness of some masks, with state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) targeting Dadian, a village in the eastern province of Shandong, where 300 workshops supply 80 percent of the country's ordinary face masks.

Dadian saw face mask output value more than triple from 350 million yuan in 2007 to 1.1 billion yuan in 2012, when the village produced 900 million masks.

The CCTV report said some workshops in Dadian had been producing cotton masks with filters in them. The masks were then sold to some companies that claimed they protected people against the effects of pollution. A workshop owner quoted in the report said, however, that the filters might not work.

The masks were not effective against PM2.5 particles, the CCTV report said.

Jiang Xiubin, who owns the BinHai Face Mask factory and who is head of the Dadian face mask association, said the village only produces ordinary face masks, not anti-smog ones.

Asked if the producers would consider upgrading their masks to address people's concerns about air pollution, Jiang said that was not yet part of the plan.

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