Only three out of 74 Chinese cities monitored met the air quality standard last year, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
In 2013, the ministry started monitoring cities’ air quality using the new national standard.
The ten cities with the best air were Haikou, Zhoushan, Lhasa, Fuzhou, Huizhou, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Lishui, and Guiyang.
Seven of the ten cities that had the worst air are in north China’s Hebei Province, one of China’s most important heavy industrial areas.
Beijing met the standard for less than half of the year, and the capital city had intense hazardous air quality for some 60 days. Shanghai met the standard for some 246 days, and had severe air pollution for some 23 days.
People in south China’s Guangzhou had safe air for about 260 days of 2013.
The main pollutants included PM2.5, PM10 particle, and nitrogen dioxide.