Beijing still suffers from severe dust storms, which blanket the city with some 25,700 tons of sandy dust each spring and give rise to the glowing, purplish-orange springtime sunsets for which the city is famous. The city is also home to 110 polluting factories, which ring the inner city, and some 1.17 million automotive vehicles. In addition, according to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB), around 10-15% of the inner city's 6 million residents still heat their homes with coal-burning stoves in the winter.
