Green police, travel vouchers to get locals out of town and shutting factories are all being harnessed to bring about blue skies for the G20 summit.
Malcolm Turnbull will join the likes of US President Barack Obama, Russia's Vladimir Putin and new British leader Theresa May in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou on Sunday and Monday for the annual economic talks.
The sky was hazy when Canberra-based reporters arrived on Saturday.
On an average day, Hangzhou's air pollution levels are three to four times higher than the level considered safe by the World Health Organisation.
However, an upper limit for pollution has been set for the summit, to make a 60 per cent improvement in air quality.
To achieve this, factories and chemical plants have closed across China's east in a program known as G20 Blue.
The environmental protection authority in Shanghai, which borders on Zhejiang province, ordered 255 petrochemical, steel and cement makers to limit production from August 24 to September 6.
Buses using diesel fuel and whose exhaust emissions fail to meet the latest national standards have been taken off the roads.
And there is a week-long public holiday to clear the roads, with locals paid about $1.5 billion in travel vouchers to get out of town.
During the summit, environmental protection inspectors will patrol the airport, railway station and highways to catch "emission violators" and to prevent the burning of crop waste and garbage.
The phenomenon has also attracted its own Twitter hashtag #g20blue to post photographs of the clear sky.
The G20 summit is expected to be carbon neutral, with the estimated 6674 tonnes of greenhouse gases to be emitted offset by more than 22 hectares of trees being planned in Hangzhou suburbs.
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