Event one: US. Embassy air quality report suggests PM 2.5 in Beijing is off the Chart. 美国大使馆空气质量报告称北京PM2.5瞬时浓度超空气质量指数上限
Date: end of Oct. 2011
Significance: At the end of October, US. Embassy posted Beijing Air quality report on blog. The report attracted wide attention from the Internet community because data of PM 2.5 from Beijing US. Embassy monitoring site is off the chart (500 and above) while local government only discloses information of measurement about PM 10, which just indicates light pollution. This information provided was misleading to local community and residents in Beijing requested government to make PM 2.5 measurement public. But Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, rejected the request in written form. Nonetheless, this incident raise public awareness about PM 2.5 both locally and national wide.
美国驻华大使馆发布北京空气质量报告称PM 2.5已超上限， 但北京官方数据因未包括PM 2.5显示空气污染指数(A P I) 为轻度污染。北京居民要求政府公开PM 2.5 数据却被北京环保局拒绝。
Event Two: Beijing authorities plan to invest 760 billion yuan (119.3 billion USD) to improve air quality 北京政府计划投资7600亿人民币（1193亿美元）以改善空气质量
Date: Jan.19th 2014
Significance: In response to recent hazardous levels of air pollution, Beijing mayor introduced a plan with “all-out effort” to deal with smog. In order to achieve clear change in air quality by 2017, Beijing government will use 760 billion yuan primarily on reducing PM 2.5 and improve regulation of emission. Specifically the tremendous amount of money will be spent on cutting coal burning, promoting clean energy, controlling of urban cars, pollution remediation and reducing dust in urban area. Meanwhile, regulation of the factories will be carried out more strictly which means more inspections and larger fine.
Event Three: Beijing air quality improved dramatically during the military parade 北京空气质量在阅兵期间明显改善
Date: 8.20-9.3.2015
Significance: During the military parade, PM 2.5 dropped 73.2% compared to data before and smog disappeared. According to Beijing Times, government officials began to clean up the air prior to the parade by shutting down coal-burning facilities in vicinity of Beijing. Moreover, authorities restricted private-owned car to drive on every other day. Beijing environmental monitoring center said that reduction of car emission had the largest impact on decrease of PM 2.5. With this fact in mind, the government official may propose car-restricting policy in the future. But according chief engineer of the monitoring center, more practical solution would be increase capacity of public transportation so less people would use cars to commute.
美国大使馆空气质量报告称北京PM2.5瞬时浓度超空气质量指数上限
Date: end of Oct. 2011
Significance: At the end of October, US. Embassy posted Beijing Air quality report on blog. The report attracted wide attention from the Internet community because data of PM 2.5 from Beijing US. Embassy monitoring site is off the chart (500 and above) while local government only discloses information of measurement about PM 10, which just indicates light pollution. This information provided was misleading to local community and residents in Beijing requested government to make PM 2.5 measurement public. But Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, rejected the request in written form. Nonetheless, this incident raise public awareness about PM 2.5 both locally and national wide.
美国驻华大使馆发布北京空气质量报告称PM 2.5已超上限， 但北京官方数据因未包括PM 2.5显示空气污染指数(A P I) 为轻度污染。北京居民要求政府公开PM 2.5 数据却被北京环保局拒绝。
Event Two: Beijing authorities plan to invest 760 billion yuan (119.3 billion USD) to improve air quality
北京政府计划投资7600亿人民币（1193亿美元）以改善空气质量
Date: Jan.19th 2014
Significance: In response to recent hazardous levels of air pollution, Beijing mayor introduced a plan with “all-out effort” to deal with smog. In order to achieve clear change in air quality by 2017, Beijing government will use 760 billion yuan primarily on reducing PM 2.5 and improve regulation of emission. Specifically the tremendous amount of money will be spent on cutting coal burning, promoting clean energy, controlling of urban cars, pollution remediation and reducing dust in urban area. Meanwhile, regulation of the factories will be carried out more strictly which means more inspections and larger fine.
为了应对最近严重的雾霾污染，北京市市长立下生死状，倾尽全力治理污染。为了在2017年实现空气质量的明显变化，北京政府将使用7600亿元资金主要围绕清洁空气行动计划进行投放，重点是压减燃煤、控车减油、治污减排、清洁降尘四个领域。
Event Three: Beijing air quality improved dramatically during the military parade
北京空气质量在阅兵期间明显改善
Date: 8.20-9.3.2015
Significance: During the military parade, PM 2.5 dropped 73.2% compared to data before and smog disappeared. According to Beijing Times, government officials began to clean up the air prior to the parade by shutting down coal-burning facilities in vicinity of Beijing. Moreover, authorities restricted private-owned car to drive on every other day. Beijing environmental monitoring center said that reduction of car emission had the largest impact on decrease of PM 2.5. With this fact in mind, the government official may propose car-restricting policy in the future. But according chief engineer of the monitoring center, more practical solution would be increase capacity of public transportation so less people would use cars to commute.
在阅兵期间，PM2.5比之前的数据下降了73.2％ 连雾霾也消失了。据京华时报，原因是政府在阅兵之前开始关停燃煤设施并实行单双号限行。