In a first, a man in a smog-filled city in China is suing the government for failing to rein in air pollution.

Li Guixin, a resident of the northern city of Shijiazhuang, submitted a formal complaint in the district court and is also seeking compensation for residents of the city, arguing that the municipal environmental protection bureau had a duty to control air pollution. Li bought air masks and a treadmill to cope with the choking miasma that beset his city this winter. "The reason that I'm proposing administrative compensation is to let every citizen see that amid this haze, we're the real victims," Li told the Yanzhao Metropolis Daily.

On paper, China has stiff penalties for environmental polluters, but local enforcement is often weak, because the government depends on tax revenue from polluters, Reuters reported.

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