Infamous Foggy Sky Is Clearing Up (Finally!)

The anti-pollution campaign China’s authorities started in 2013 to clean the air has paid off as blue skies can be seen in Beijing, the capital, where the air quality has greatly improved.

“2013 was an important attitudinal tipping point, where the government is now openly saying, we are leaving behind this ‘economic growth at all cost’ policy and moving in this new direction where there is harmony between economic growth […] and environmental stewardship,” says Daniel Gardner, emeritus professor at Smith College and author of Environmental Pollution in China: What Everyone Needs to Know.

The “air-pocalypse” happened in 2013 when microscopic pollutants in the air reached an all-time high, and newly appointed president Xi Jinping decided to declare war on air pollution the following year. The government invested billions in rolling out new regulations, setting up air monitoring stations all across the country, and shutting down coal mines and coal plants. Since then, Beijing has only recorded ten days of heavy air pollution last year. That is an 80% drop since 2015. July 2021 is the capital’s best monthly air quality since 2013 when the country started to record the city’s air quality on a monthly basis.