article_snippet: Beijing (CNN)When it came to the environment in China, it was hazy through much of the weekend -- literally and figuratively.
article_snippet: Some even called it propaganda for President Xi Jinping, who had declared keeping the sky blue a top policy priority.
article_snippet: Many more people, however, perceived it as an encouraging sign of the government's adoption of a more open attitude to a politically sensitive topic, as Xi and other leaders started to publicly acknowledge the severity and urgency of the issue.
article_snippet: Also in Beijing were almost 3,000 delegates who had gathered to attend the National People's Congress, China's rubber-stamp parliament that meets in full once a year to approve the ruling Communist Party's legislative proposals.
article_snippet: Pollution has remained a hot topic at this year's session, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, adding that Xi vowed to legislators Friday "to give an iron hand to any polluters in the smog-choked country.
article_snippet: Smog is like any other problem in China -- dig Smog too deep and you touch the issue of political system," said Yao Bo, a well-known news commentator with more than 1.2 million followers on Chinese social media.
article_snippet: As gusty winds blew away Beijing's smog Sunday afternoon, this much became clear to the public: In China, China cares about the environment as much as you do, but only one of you is free to talk about the environment.
highlights_snippet: Film on China's air pollution problem drew praise from environment minister when it came out .
  