In the past twenty years, China has undoubtedly become an advanced, industrialized nation. Averaging eight percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) per annum, China’s growth has been jaw dropping. Big cities such as Shanghai and Hong Kong have sprouted with skyscrapers, factories, and financial centers, but these economic improvements came at the cost of China’s environmental sustainability.

Studies by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the World Health Organization produced astonishing results. Only three out of 74 Chinese cities met the official minimum standards for air quality in 2013. Also, as shown in the chart below, China’s most polluted city surpasses 15 times the level of pollution considered to be hazardous to health.

Clearly, China has struggled to draw the line between industrialization and environmental protection. No matter how much the country tries to advance economically, it will always be burdened by the resulting air pollution. Despite its efforts to cut down carbon-emitted pollution, such as pledging to reduce the amount of carbon it emits to 40 to 45 percent below its 2005 levels, the Chinese government must make mass changes to environmental and health regulations in order to actually create an effect.

Images and References:

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/04/2-charts-that-put-the-chinese-pollution-problem-in-perspective/360868/

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/28/world/asia/most-chinese-cities-fail-pollution-standard-china-says.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/01/business/international/china-plans-a-market-for-carbon-permits.html