Beijing was also engulfed by heavy smog, where air quality was rated as "hazardous". The capital city was shrouded in dense smog for a second straight day today.
"The smoggy weather will not clear up until Monday," the city's environment monitoring center said, adding Beijing's air is heavily polluted.
The elderly, children and those suffering from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases are advised to stay indoors to reduce exposure to polluted air, state run Xinhua news agency reported.
Meanwhile, heavy fog has blanketed Hebei, Tianjin, Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi and Hubei provinces.
In Shandong, more than 20 highways were closed, as the fog reduced visibility in some areas to less than 50 meters, the provincial meteorological center said.
A total of 63 flights in and out of Shandong's eastern coastal city of Qingdao had been cancelled or delayed by 2 pm today, affecting about 5,000 passengers, according to airport administration authorities in Qingdao.
In Jiangxi, visibility in eight cities was reduced less than 500 meters. The fog forced five highways to close and delayed dozens of flights at an airport in the provincial capital of Nanchang on Saturday morning, according to local meteorological authorities.
