China’s one-party state cleans up air pollution in record time

For years the Chinese dismissed pollution as ‘fog’ but in 2014 they decided to tackle the problem with ‘an iron fist’ – and won. Phoebe Weston looks at a record-breaking clean-up campaign

Sunday 13 October 2019 11:30 BST
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The fog of 2014 has been replaced with clean air
The fog of 2014 has been replaced with clean air

In 2014 Beijing was deemed “almost uninhabitable” for humans. The country was seeing the worst stretches of pollution in its history, with levels hitting 45 times the recommended daily limit. Beijing was the 40th worst city in the world for a small lung-damaging particulate matter known as PM2.5.

For years authorities dismissed the poisonous blanket of pollution as “fog” but the problem grew too big to ignore and in one year the government went from denial to tackling the problem with “an iron fist”.

“We will resolutely declare war against pollution as we declared war against poverty,” Chinese premier Li Keqiang announced in 2014. It was a pivotal moment and marked the first time China had put the environment before economic growth. The policy has been so successful that five years down the line it is set to exit the list of the world’s 200 most polluted cities. Particulates were cut by more than 32 per cent and the promise of clean (or much cleaner) air was delivered.

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