A recent research report mentioned that the Chinese city of Beijing came in 41st in a list of cities in China which have been ranked on the basis of their livability. At the same time, Shanghai came in at number 10 on the list, which was released on Friday, May 9, 2014.
The director of the Urban and Property Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Ni Pengfeng said, “Beijing lost points because of poor air quality and high housing prices”. The latest report was based on 294 cities’ evaluation. It has been reported that nine factors have been taken into consideration, such as living conditions, cultural competitiveness and city harmony.
Air pollution has become one of the biggest issues in many Chinese cities. In 2013, over 100 cities witnessed an average of 29.9 smoggy days. The worst cities were ranked by the Ministry of Environmental Protection in 2013 and the majority of them were in the country’s Hebei province surrounding Beijing. It was reported by the Associated Press earlier in 2014 that the number of foreign tourists to China had declined due to pollution.
In order to deal with the problem, the country’s coal consumption has been reduced by 200,000 metric tons during the first quarter of 2014, compared to the same period in 2013, while burning a total of 2.6 million tons.
Photo Credits: Guardian
