Fewer Than Half of Beijing's 2013 Days Were "Blue Sky Days"

Take a deep breath because it's official: in 2013, Beijing had fewer "good air" days than "bad air days" and made barely any improvement over 2012.

According to data collected by the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, 189 days last year reached levels that were considered polluted or heavily polluted, as measured by the PM 2.5 standard; this is more than the 176 days in which Beijing experienced "clean" days (as seen in the graphic above). The national standard for "good" air quality is 35 micrograms per cubic meter, while last year's average was 89.5, considered a "moderate" level of pollution. Fifty-eight days – more than 8 full weeks – were classified as “severely polluted," which calls for keeping the elderly, young and sick indoors and curtailing most outdoor activities.

Most of the worst days occurred January through March, with ten out of 13 days with the highest levels of pollution measured then.

The highest levels of pollution were detected in southern Beijing, with lowest levels in more remote areas of the municipality, including Changping County near the Badaling Great Wall.

Data indicates that despite observations by those living outside the city center in places like Shunyi, the Olympic Park area and Haidian, the air is pretty much just as bad there. A map of annual PM 2.5 readings released by the Beijing Bureau of Environmental protection saw all of these areas swathed in the same band of bad air (indicated in orange above). Downtown and to the airport clocked in at about 90-100 micrograms per cubic meter, while north of those areas was marginally better at 80 to 90 micrograms per cubic meter. Bad news for Tongzhou and Yizhuang, as they're worse off, in the red, at 100 to 110.

In order to breathe significanlty cleaner, the map indicates one would have to move well north of Yanqing and Huairou or west beyond Mengoutou, not very practical for the average expat.

If we might take away a bright side from all of this gloom, it's that 2013 was the first year where widespread, multi-point measurements of PM 2.5 have been regularly tracked, and things never measured can never be improved. Those taking the long view might note that the city has spent the last decade targeting PM 10 and over that time has made strides in improving this measurement, lowering PM 10 particulate matter by about half from 1998 to 2013.

Nevertheless, rising levels of other types of pollution such as PM 2.5 were a major contributor to departures from Beijing by both Chinese and foreign residents in 2013.

Photo: Marketplace.org, Beijing Municipal Environment Protection Bureau