Beijing makes big gains in air quality

Beijing slashed levels of a major airborne pollutant by over a third in five years, reaching a target set in 2013, and also recorded 226 "blue sky" days in 2017, the city's environmental authority said on Wednesday.

In 2017, the annual average concentration of PM2.5 - hazardous fine particles - was lowered to 58 micrograms per cubic meter, reducing the 2013 level of 90 micrograms by 35.6 percent, said Liu Baoxian, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center.

"It means Beijing reached the target set by the State Council of lowering it to 60 by the end of 2017," he said.