Photos: Ideas for coping with smog abound in China - much like in LA during the 1950s

A policeman works on a pollution-shrouded street in Harbin, China. (AFP/Getty Images)

Sept. 14, 2014 4:55 AM PT

China is full of crazy smog fighting ideas. So was LA in the 1950s and 1960s.

Sera Segal-Alsberg, an artist-instructor, wears a mask while driving in West Hollywood in 1979. (Boris Yaro / Los Angeles Times)

Los Angeles City Hall is all but obscured by thick smog in 1953. (R.L. Oliver / Los Angeles Times)

Starlight, a Chinese environmental company, recently unveiled a pollution-fighting mobile “fog cannon” designed to control particulate matter at coal depots and other industrial sites. (Julie Makinen / Los Angeles Times)