Air quality deteriorating

Beijing once again ranked in China's worst air-quality top ten in July, with only eight days falling within air quality standards, the Beijing Evening News reports.

According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the major pollutants in Beijing are PM2.5 and ozone. Compared with June, the PM2.5 concentration rose, and the rate of up-to-standard days dropped by 36.3 percent to 25.8 percent.

Since 2013, the ministry has been monitoring 74 Chinese cities including Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai with new air quality criteria, in which the reporting of PM2.5 data is mandatory.