IN the first half of the year, Shenzhen met China’s new air quality standards along with nine other Chinese cities, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP). The indexes of five pollutants out of six dropped from last year, especially for PM2.5, which is down 10.8 percent. The number of hazy days during the last three quarters was down by 21, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.

    The local government is working on Shenzhen’s pollution problem by encouraging shipping companies to use cleaner fuels and ordering factories to meet new exhaustion standards.

    The six pollutants the MEP monitors are sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), PM2.5 and PM 10.(Tan Yifan)