A ban on fireworks ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics helped China's capital record its cleanest air for a Lunar New Year since it first started monitoring air pollutants, known as PM2.5, nine years ago.
Average concentrations of PM2.5 - small, hazardous airborne particles - stood at 5 micrograms per cubic metre in Beijing in Monday night, compared with an average of 289 micrograms for the Lunar New Year's eve in 2021.
The Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau gave details of the readings in a statement on Tuesday.Traditionally, Chinese people have celebrated Lunar New Year's eve by lighting firecrackers, hoping to get rid of bad luck. But this year Beijing introduced a full ban on fireworks, having previously only banning them in the city centre.
Cities across northern China, including Zhangjiakou - a city co-hosting the Winter Olympics - have also imposed curbs on selling and lighting fireworks. The authorities did not make a direct link between the ban on fireworks and the Winter Olympics, but environmental officials had warned that weather conditions would make it harder to keep air clean during the Games, which will be held on Feb.4-20.
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