China’s big cities are famously polluted. Air pollution is responsible for as many as one million excess deaths per year in China, according to estimates from the World Health Organization. The government had some success in improving air quality in Beijing this winter, but most of this success was achieved by simply moving polluting industries farther away from the capital. If China really wants to meet air quality standards nationwide by 2035, as the government has promised, it will need systemic change.
