Lunar New Year sees drop in Beijing air pollution

The air in Beijing has finally seen some improvement, with a cold front blowing in from the north and helping to clear some of the recent smog. According to the Xinhua News Agency, the six districts that are covered by the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Centre experienced much lower readings of particulate matter pollution.

The centre's Weibo - China's equivalent to Twitter - feed showed readings of PM2.5 - particulate matter that measures under 2.5 micrometres - reached as high as 210 micrograms per cubic metre. With the onset of the cold front, this measurement fell to as low as 11 micrograms per cubic metre throughout the six districts of the capital covered by the monitoring centre.

As China began its Lunar New Year celebrations on January 30th, 68 of the 161 cities that are monitored throughout the country experienced heavy levels of pollution, according to the Ministry of Environment. A further 16 cities had readings that suggested that air pollution was severe on the same day. This could be put down to the excess of fireworks that were let off in celebration of the New Year.

Following on from the surge in air pollution, strong winds blew in from the north, causing temperatures throughout Beijing to drop. The cold temperatures and winds helped to disperse the majority of the particulate matter that is often seen to shroud the city in heavy smog.

The improved air quality could also be due in part to the falling sales of fireworks over the Lunar New Year. This follows on from the request of the Chinese government to reduce the use of pollution-causing fireworks over the celebration period. Sales of fireworks have dropped by half throughout Beijing, according to CCTV.com.

The government's attempts to have residents reduce the amount of air pollution they create is part of the county's attempts to improve air quality. With China's smog-covered cities being shown over world media in the last few years, the country has started to put policies in place to reduce emissions and cut down on particulate matter.