China’s air pollution reduces citizens life expectancy
Air pollution is shortening the lives of people in northern China by about 5.5 years compared to the south, a disastrous legacy of a policy that provided free coal for heating in the north, an international study shows.
Environmental problems are a source of rising social discontent in China; last month Beijing promised new measures to crack down on air pollution, partly by hastening a shift to renewable energy from fossil fuels.
The financial district of Pudong is seen on a hazy day in Shanghai
Combination picture shows the air pollution levels of the sky over Tiananmen Square during the week-long National People’s Congress in Beijing
A woman wears a mask as she does her morning exercise outdoors in Fuyang
A statue of China’s late Chairman Mao is seen in front of buildings during a hazy day in Shenyang, Liaoning province
An elderly man exercises in the morning as he faces chimneys emitting smoke behind buildings across the Songhua river in Jilin
A man wearing a mask is seen on a street in Beijing
A swallow flies past smoke billowing from the chimneys of a cement plant on the outskirts of Xiangfan
A man rows a boat on a river during a hazy morning in Shaoxing
