Drastic measures to cut pollution in the areas around Beijing during the final months of 2017 have led to unusually clear air in the capital, offsetting the effect of a nationwide economic recovery, according to new data.
Authorities closed factories and forbade residents in provinces neighbouring Beijing from using coal to heat their homes during winter, in a last-ditch effort to meet emissions-cutting targets for 2017.
Beijing also ejected hundreds of thousands of migrants workers and razed several neighbourhoods ringing the city. Poor-quality coal briquettes used to heat villages and slum neighbourhoods account for half of coal consumption in Beijing and surrounding regions in the winter.