What images spring to mind when you think about pollution? Chances are, you’ll think of plumes of smog emerging from towering power stations. Now imagine that smog descends on your day-to-day life — your commute to work or your weekend shopping trip. It’s not a nice thought, and it’s not a nice reality either.
Really brought to light in the western world by the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the state of the environment in China leaves a lot to be desired. According to the World Health Organisation, China is the world’s deadliest country for outdoor air pollution; the most recent data available is from 2013, when around 1.6 million people died from breathing in dirty air.