China News Agency, Shijiazhuang, June 26th: "Sky Photographer" Witnesses China's Breakthrough "Haze"

　　China News Agency reporter Li Xiaowei

　　There are more than 3,100 photos, which is the number of photos of the same sky taken by Wang Ruchun, a 77-year-old Shijiazhuang old man in Hebei province, over the past 8 years.

In the lens of this "sky photographer", the changes in the sky of a city were recorded.

　　Since New Year's Day in 2014, every morning at 8:00, Wang Ruchun will take a picture of the sky from the balcony of his home to the west to record the weather conditions on that day.

After the photos are taken, the air quality level, pollution index, primary pollutants, etc. must be recorded against the official information.

At the end of each month, he stores the photos taken during the month in a folder called "Tracking Smog".

　　In 2013, "smog" suddenly became one of the hottest words in China that year.

Due to the emphasis on the industrial energy structure and other reasons, at that time, Hebei Province was facing a relatively serious air pollution problem.

In 2013, among the top ten cities in China's key cities in terms of air quality, Hebei once occupied 7 cities, and Shijiazhuang was one of them.

　　"At that time, the sky was always gray, and when the air pollution was severe, my throat would feel hot." Wang Ruchun said that photography lovers are very sensitive to weather changes, so they want to record it.

　　Since then, Wang Ruchun has begun to photograph people's living conditions under the smog.

Buildings hidden in the haze, pedestrians wearing various masks... "The photos taken at that time have a 'magical' feeling." Wang Ruchun said.

　　In 2013, China issued the "Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan", becoming the first developing country in the world to carry out large-scale PM2.5 control.

Hebei Province also coordinated the promotion of key tasks such as energy pressure, coal reduction, enterprise governance, dust suppression, vehicle control, and greening, and a "blue sky defense war" started.

Wang Ruchun then focused on the demolition and modification of coal-fired boilers, corporate emission reduction, dust reduction at construction sites, and bus conversion to electricity.

　　"There are more and more blue sky and white clouds." Wang Ruchun felt the changes in the sky in his photos.

In order to show these changes more intuitively, he integrated the photos taken from 2014 to 2021 and made a "Map of Air Quality Changes in Shijiazhuang City".

Looking at this bar chart, you can see at a glance the changes in air quality in Shijiazhuang over the years.

　　Official statistics show that in recent years, the task of resolving excess capacity in key industries in Hebei Province has been completed ahead of schedule, the crude steel production capacity has been reduced from 320 million tons at the peak to less than 200 million tons, and the relocation of heavily polluting enterprises has achieved remarkable results; accumulative clean heating renovations have been completed. Over 12.96 million households; promoting ultra-low emission transformation of coal-fired boilers and eliminating tens of thousands of coal-fired boilers... These measures have effectively promoted the improvement of air quality.

　　"In the photos, the sky is getting brighter and brighter, the tall buildings in the distance can be clearly photographed, and people are more willing to go out and relax." Wang Ruchun said that the air purifier he bought a few years ago has been idle for a long time. .

　　Data from the Department of Ecology and Environment confirms this change: In 2013, the average PM2.5 concentration in Hebei Province was 104 micrograms per cubic meter.

In 2021, the average concentration of PM2.5 in the province will be 38.8 micrograms per cubic meter, and the number of days with good quality will be 269, accounting for more than 70%.

　　Not only Hebei.

The data shows that in 2021, the average number of days with good air quality in China's 339 cities at the prefecture level and above will be 87.5%; since the "13th Five-Year Plan", China's PM2.5 has achieved "six consecutive declines".

　　At present, Hebei Province is promoting a series of measures to consolidate and expand the achievements of atmospheric control and accurately respond to polluted weather, and strive to achieve the goal of more than 270 days of excellent days.

Wang Ruchun said that he will continue to shoot and record the happy life of people under the normalization of blue sky and white clouds.

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