Car sales in China hit 20 million, smog levels reach staggering heights
The number of聽听辞苍 China's roads continues to grow--and so does the severity of the country's air pollution.
China became the first nation to surpass聽聽last year,聽Bloomberg聽reports. That represents a 14 percent increase over 2012, and continues its reign as the world's largest聽听尘补谤办别迟.
Sales are expected to grow by a further 10 percent in 2014, according to the government-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
As China is choked by smog and聽, the association believes new-car sales will steadily decline.
While vehicles are far from the only sources of air pollution--industry in general and coal-fired power plants are responsible for the majority of emissions--public pressure to curtail聽聽emissions and address the choking smog may finally be having an effect.
There has also reportedly been a backlash against luxury goods--including cars--since Xi Jinping became head of the Communist Party in November 2012, and made curtailing consumerism a priority.
Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) found Chinese outdoor air pollution causes lung cancer, and increases the risk of bladder cancer.
In Xi'an--the former imperial capital, known for its ancient聽terra cotta聽warriors--smog levels have reached 38 times the WHO safety threshold.
The Chinese government is taking steps to limit emissions, while individual cities are instituting restrictions of their own--including caps on the number of new-car sales.
Last month, The United States announced that it would聽.
The U.S. will provide technical assistance for a new set of regulations--dubbed China VI--that would lower the acceptable level of sulfur in tailpipe emissions, and require new vehicles to have particulate filters.
The Chinese government has also adopted聽, and is trying to encourage the mass adoption of聽.
While the government tries to make future聽聽cleaner, China's cities are attempting to keep the number of vehicles on their streets under control.
Shanghai-which experienced record levels of smog--is considering a congestion charge, while Beijing 飞颈濒濒听, and plans to聽.
Shijiazhuang--the capital of the steel-producing Hebei province that surrounds Beijing, has introduced its own plan to聽.
