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3 Adirud Takanmaneerat 6202470040

From 'air-pocalypse' to blue skies. Beijing's fight for cleaner air is a rare
victory for public dissent
Hong Kong (CNN)Beijing was once known as one of the world's most polluted cities,
with dense smog and acrid air a daily reality for residents. Now, its skies are mostly blue — a
sign the Chinese capital is entering a new era of clean air, the country's Minister of Ecology
and Environment claimed last Wednesday.
Though Chinese cities have long topped global rankings of the world's worst air
quality, they have shown steady improvement over the years. Recent photos from Beijing
show clear blue skies and summer sun, once a rarity in the city of approximately 21 million.
The turnaround in Beijing's air quality illustrates how successful the country's anti-pollution
campaign has been since it began in 2013 — the year of Beijing's infamous "air-pocalypse,"
when smog got so bad that levels of PM2.5, 90 times higher than the World Health
Organization's recommended daily level.
Xi Jinping, who became president in March 2013 just two months after the air-
pocalypse, saw an opportunity. By pledging to clean up pollution, he could win public
support, improve China's battered international image, lure back worried foreign tourists and
expat workers, and give himself a PR boost all at once.
Starting that year, the government invested billions of dollars into a national air pollution
action plan. It rolled out new regulations, set up nationwide air monitoring stations, and
began shutting down coal mines and coal plants. By 2014, China had declared a national
"war against pollution."
All the while, Xi prided himself on China's antipollution campaign, often shutting
down factories and limiting the number of cars on the road to ensure blue skies during
important events such as a 2014 summit of Asia Pacific leaders.
Despite the improvements, there's still a long way to go — for instance, those temporary
blue skies often rebound with heavy smog. And it's hard to know whether improvements are
being seen across the country or whether the pollution is just migrating from Beijing
elsewhere — especially with new plans introduced this year for dozens of coal-fired
furnaces and power plant units. Environmentalists also have to be careful not to cross any
political red lines, lest they anger the central government.
 But viewed from once-smoggy Beijing, it's clear that concerted efforts have paid off
— perhaps one of the few times in recent years public outrage has successfully spurred
Chinese authorities to act, even if those efforts were carefully managed and quickly
suppressed.