Analysts gain recognition as number of blue sky days rises

Every day, Li Yunting collates data related to pollutant levels and the weather forecasts, and issues a prediction about air quality for use by decision makers and the general populace.

"From the monitoring records, the efforts against air pollution work, especially those in the first eight months, have made me confident about further improvement," said Li, who has worked at the Beijing Environmental Monitoring Center for 18 years.

In the first eight months of this year, the average concentration of PM2.5 - hazardous fine particulate matter - in the capital has been 35.5 percent lower than during the same period in 2013, according to data released by the center.