Beijing reported 29 "blue sky days" in July, a record for the month since a clean-air program began in 1998, raising the hope that the city may hit this year's target of 238 days of fairly good air quality.

"Rainy weather helped us achieve 29 'blue sky days' last month, five days more than July of last year," said Du Shaozhong, deputy head of Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau.

"More blue sky days in July have raised the hope that we can achieve our goal for this year," he said, adding that the city needs 102 more blue sky days to achieve this year's target.

However, environmental experts warned that it was unlikely that the city would hit its target of 238 "blue sky" days this year as the national capital had only 51 "blue sky" days from January to April, 16 days fewer than the corresponding period last year.

By the end of July, Beijing had this year seen only 136 "blue sky days", five days fewer than the same seven-month period of last year.

Experts with the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Monitoring Center said weather conditions contributed to better air quality last month.

They said rain helps clean pollutant out of the air and controls dust. A north wind also helped blow away pollutants.

Beijing had 27 rainy days last month, breaking a five-year record.

Beijing launched the "Defending the Blue Sky" program in 1998, when the city had only about 100 days of 'blue sky' days.

Beijing has taken a series of measures to improve air quality over the past several years, such as moving industry out of the downtown area, encouraging the use of natural gas and other clean fuels and closing coal-burning furnaces.