AIR QUALITY

2013 data

Is Lanzhou finally putting its 'most polluted city' tag behind it? 

New data published by Energy Desk (Greenpeace) has ranked Chinese cities according to the number of days of emergency level bad air pollution. These are days when the air quality are classed as 'very unhealthy' or 'hazardous'. 

Key points are:
  1. 46 cities (out of 75) in the survey suffered more emergency level bad air days in 2013 than Lanzhou.
  2. Lanzhou suffered just 13 days of emergency level bad air pollution in 2013.
  3. In 2013, Lanzhou suffered fewer bad air pollution days than:
  • Beijing (60 days)
  • Xi'an (56 days)
  • Harbin (50 days)
  • Chengdu (46 days)
  • Shanghai (21 days)
  • Qingdao (20 days)
  • Hangzhou (19 days)

Real-time air quality readings

You can check air quality around China courtesy of Air Quality in China (.org). Below, you can see how Lanzhou compares right now to some other cities that visitors to China typically spend time in.

Seasonal variations

China measures air quality using an Air Pollution Index (API). Read the details here.
Lanzhou's reputation as one of the most polluted cities in China is hard to shake, unfortunately, but this view is simplistic and misleading. Air quality could be better, of course. But, there is a reasonably clear trend to show that summer and winter readings are quite different (see 'Lanzhou API Average 2006-2011', click to enlarge). 
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If you visit in the summer months, you are almost guaranteed 'good' air. Take 2010, for example: in summer, 82% of the days had 'good' or 'excellent' air quality. The best months were May (94%), June (97%) and July (100%). Click 'Lanzhou Air Quality 2010' to enlarge.

During the winter, though, the pollution can get quite bad. In 2010, the percentage of 'good' or 'excellent' days fell to 41% in the winter.
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