Air Pollution in Major Chinese Cities: Some Progress, But Much More to Do

Abstract

Background Ambient (outdoor) air pollution has been implicated as a major cause of acute cardiovascular and pulmonary illnesses and increased risk for acute and chronic effects after chronic exposures, including mortality and morbidity. In 2008, due to persistent health concerns about its workforce and their dependents, the US Mission in China began monitoring air quality at the US Embassy in Beijing. Subsequently, monitoring stations were also established at US consulates at Shanghai (2011), Guangzhou (2011), Chengdu (2012), and Shenyang (2013). Objectives To determine whether there have been definable trends in air quality in these five Chinese cities. Methods Air monitoring results from each locale for accumulated PM2.5 particulate matter were calculated hourly. Accumulated data were organized, culled using a standardized set of heuristics, and analyzed for trends. Results China’s capital city, Beijing, experienced decreased PM2.5 from 2013 through 2015, but no significant long-term downward trend from 2008 through 2015. Shanghai has not shown any definable air quality trend since 2012. Chengdu experienced some improvement in air quality since 2013, but none discernible from 2012 through 2015. Guangzhou had generally better air quality, and a downward trend since 2012. Shenyang experienced increasingly severe air pollution from 2013 through 2015. Conclusion There appear to have been recent tangible, though modest, improvements in air quality in three large Chinese cities: Beijing, Chengdu, and Guangzhou, but no apparent progress in Shanghai, and a worrisome decline in air quality observed in Shenyang. Despite recent progress, there is a long way to go before even the cities which show improvement reach Chinese standards.

Exceedances and trends of particulate matter (PM2.5) in five Indian megacities

“…This USEC data has been used for the study of PM 2.5 levels in the urban environment for different purposes viz. ; to study the trend and characteristics of PM 2.5 ( Chen et al, 2020 ; Fontes et al, 2017 ; Sreekanth et al, 2018 ; Liang et al, 2016 ; Batterman et al, 2016 ; San Martini et al, 2015 ), to compare with other data and model evaluation ( Jiang et al, 2015 ; Li, 2020 ; Matthias et al, 2017 ; Mukherjee and Toohey, 2016 ; Shimadera et al, 2016 ; Uno et al, 2014 ; Wang et al, 2018 ), and to estimate the health impacts ( Han et al, 2020 ; Lowsen and Conway, 2016 ; Luong et al, 2020 ; Nhung et al, 2020 ; Tian et al, 2020 ; Wang et al, 2020 ; You et al, 2016 ; Zhang et al, 2020 ). While most of the studies are carried out in China, few studies have been carried out for other countries including Vietnam ( Hien et al, 2019 ; Luong et al, 2020 ), Japan ( Shimadera et al, 2016 ) Indonesia ( Kusuma et al, 2019 ), Mongolia ( Hill et al, 2017 ), Bangladesh ( Auvee and Bashar, 2019 ), and Singapore ( Liu and Salvo, 2018 ).…”

The Analysis in the Burden of Lung Cancer Attributable to PM2.5 Exposure in China

“…Fine particulate air pollution was associated with approximately a 4%, 6%, and 8% increased risk of all-cause, cardiopulmonary, and lung cancer mortality, respectively [11], the study areas involved Beijing [12], Shanghai [12], Guangzhou [13], Taiyuan [14], Shenyang [15] and other large cities in China. Compared with developed countries, the type of air pollution in Chinese cities changed from traditional soot type to hybrid soot/vehicle exhaust type, which made the source of PM more complicated and diversi ed [16]. As PM2.5 level increased, health effects and diseases burden had more attention.…”

Low Dose Carbon Black Nanoparticle Exposure Does Not Aggravate Allergic Airway Inflammation in Mice Irrespective of the Presence of Surface Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

“…To avoid unrealistically high CBNP concentrations, we calculated a CBNP dose based on studies that determined the PM 2.5 concentration in the ambient air of several cities in Europe and Asia [ 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ]. In European cities, the mean annual concentration of PM 2.5 fraction is low and ranged between 7 µg/m 3 and 35 µg/m 3 in the last few years [ 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ].…”

“…However, the PM 2.5 fraction can be temporally increased—for example, in congested roads—up to 76 µg/m 3 [ 13 ]. In Chinese cities, the mean annual concentration of PM 2.5 is higher and ranged from 55 µg/m 3 to 102 µg/m 3 in 2013 [ 43 , 44 ]. Moreover, the temporary peak concentrations can reach levels over 600 µg/m 3 in urban areas [ 45 , 46 ].…”