What is the solution to China's toxic smog problem?
One Dutch designer says he's got the answer.
Artist Daan Roosegaarde told CNN he's created a mechanism that he thinks will remove pollutants from Beijing's grey skies, which are shrouded in clouds of pollution on any given day.
Roosegaarde has come up with a device that uses an electromagnetic field generated by copper coils which pull particles in the air to the ground, where they can be cleaned.
"It's like when you have a balloon which has static [electricity] and your hair goes toward it," Roosegaarde told CNN. "Same with the smog."
Roosegaarde also described the machine as a sort of vacuum that would suction the smog right out of the atmosphere.
The designer has reportedly been in contact with officials in China, and has come to an agreement with the Beijing government to try the device in one of the city's parks.
"Beijing is quite good because the smog is quite low, it's in a valley, so there's not much wind. It's a good environment to explore this kind of thing," he told CNN. "We'll be able to purify the air and the challenge is to get the top of the smog so you can see the sun again."
Roosegaarde also added that he'd come up with an indoor prototype that, after testing, has shown positive results. With the help of scientists and engineers, he believes he can create another device equally as effective for the outside.
But the designer did acknowledge endeavors like his could be something like a band-aid on the greater problem of choking, deadly smog in China's large cities.
"This is not the real answer for smog," he said. "The real answer has to do with clean cars, different industry and different lifestyles."
Still, he is willing to give the project a shot - if anything, to start a conversation while making a "radical statement."
"I want to take a park in Beijing, 50m by 50m square, and make it the cleanest park in Beijing," he told CNN, adding that he wasn't sure which park would be the venue for the machine's test run.
Since Monday, citizens in the northern Chinese city of Harbin have experienced some of the worst smog in recent history, sparking questions of how the country will address a problem that has plagued the area for years.
The State Council met in September to discuss scaling back on pollutant levels over the next few years, pushing for caps on coal use and slash-and-burn techniques traditionally used by farmers.
