Most cities expected to fail to meet stricter new air pollution standards
Stricter air quality measurements on mainland are seen as step forward in government transparency, but only five of 120 cities hit standard
Only five of 120 mainland cities logged "blue-sky days" on New Year's Day as the first up-to-the-hour air quality readings were reported under tougher pollution standards.
In Beijing, even the chilly winter winds failed to clear the smog, with most of its 35 monitoring stations showing "moderate" air pollution. The 24-hour reading of PM2.5 fine particulates in the southern area of Yizhuang stood at 153, or moderate pollution.
The outskirts of the city seemed to fare the worst. The remote Liulihe monitoring station in the southwestern suburbs of Fangshan district recorded the worst air quality index (AQI) in the city, 210. Several cities that are near the capital, such as Baoding, Shijiangzhuang and Tianjin, saw the worst pollution in the country.
The environmental ministry warned last year that at least two out of three of cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou would fail to meet the revised air quality standards, which still lag behind World Health Organisation recommendations.
The new standards announced in March apply to ozone, carbon monoxide and PM2.5 - particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter that are linked to respiratory diseases - along with sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and large particulate matter. Figures are reported hourly from 496 monitoring sites in 74 cities.
More than two dozen cities have begun updating daily PM2.5 readings in the past few months. Several, including Beijing and Guangzhou, are providing real-time PM2.5 data on a trial basis.