China has cut air pollution, but the war isn't over

Fifteen years ago, Beijing's Liangma riverbanks would have been smog-choked and deserted in winter, but these days they are dotted with families and exercising pensioners most mornings.

- Agence France-Presse

The turnaround is the result of a years-long campaign that threw China's state power behind policies like moving factories and electrifying vehicles, to improve some of the world's worst air quality.

Pollution levels in many Chinese cities still top the World Health Organization's (WHO) limits, but they have fallen dramatically since the “airpocalypse” days of the past.

"It used to be really bad,” said Zhao, 83, soaking up the sun by the river with friends. “Back then when there was smog, I wouldn't come out,” she told AFP, declining to give her full name. These days though, the air is “very fresh”. Since 2013, levels of PM2.5 — small particulate that can enter the lungs and bloodstream — have fallen 69.8 percent, Beijing municipality said in January. Particulate pollution fell 41 per cent nationwide in the decade from 2014, and average life expectancy has increased 1.8 years, according to the University of Chicago's Air Quality Life Index (AQLI).

China's rapid development and heavy coal use saw air quality decline dramatically by the 2000s, especially when cold winter weather trapped pollutants close to the ground. There were early attempts to tackle the issue, including installing desulphurisation technology at coal power plants, while factory shutdowns and traffic control improved the air quality for events like the 2008 Olympics. But the impact was short-lived, and the problem worsened.