China Briefing | China’s air pollution may be easier to beat than its dirty bureaucrats

Despite the onset of freezing winter in northern China, residents have been in for a pleasant surprise as far as air pollution is concerned. Since November, the chronic heavy choking smog which used to blanket much of the northern cities this time of the year has largely been absent and instead clear blue skies have, unexpectedly, shone through on most days.

Strong gusts of chilly winds from Siberia have played a part, but more importantly the central government’s relentless efforts to curb air pollution have paid off.

In particular, a forceful campaign has been launched this year to curb the use of coal for residential and industrial heating, which has unexpectedly led to an acute shortage of the cleaner alternative, natural gas. Hundreds of thousands of homes were left without heat and students in schools in Hebei reportedly had to take short breaks from normal classes to run in the tracks to keep themselves warm.

The dire situation has forced the central government to relent and allow coal to be burnt in rural homes and coal firing plants have been allowed to restart.

But amid a general oversupply of natural gas, the shortage is most likely to be seasonal and temporary. It is partly man made, caused by overzealous local officials in Hebei who banned the use of coal for rural homes and industrial heating even before the infrastructure to pipe in gas was in place.

They are not alone. Officials in other northern provinces have displayed a similar zeal after they realised curbing air pollution had become President Xi Jinping’s top priority.

Xi’s remarks that “green mountains and clear waters are equal to mountains of gold and silver” have become an official motto repeated extensively and prominently through propaganda campaigns. Official media reports devote much space to progress in curbing air, water, and soil pollution.