China environment ministry said yesterday that air quality in China’s
largest cities has continued to improve during the first half of the
year.
According to Shanghai Daily,
the largest 338 cities enjoyed more clean air days during the first six
months of the year than in 2015. If the figures are to be believed,
76.7 percent of all days between January and the end of June enjoyed
clean air.
Aggregating the data appears to help massage the situation for those
living in the industrial areas of the country, as Beijing, Tianjin and
11 other cities in Hebei province only saw 57.4 percent of days having
“good air quality.” This, however, was still 11 percentage points better
than 2015.
Concentrations of PM2.5 still averaged 64 micrograms per cubic meter
in the first half of the year, significantly higher than the official
state standard of 35 micrograms, and the World Health Organization’s
guideline of an annual average of no more than 10 micrograms.
Shanghai and 24 other cities along the Yangtze River Delta recorded
72.9 percent of days with good air quality, a year-on-year increase of
3.8 percent. Life is even better for those living in either Guangdong or
Shenzhen, with 94.7 percent of days said to be relatively smog free.
The figures produced by the Ministry of Environmental Protection are
of course only useful when comparing against domestic data from previous
years. China’s air pollution standards are about half as stringent as
those adhered to by the US or EU.