The huge car population in China has made the country's government take note of the serious air pollution these automobiles are causing.
China sold more than 13 million cars last year. This has lead to a serious case of air pollution and the country's government is now gearing up to taking appropriate steps to curb this growing problem.
As the Chinese middle-class expanded dramatically over the last 20 years, cars became the new symbol of prosperity. With the economy continuing to grow, the love affair with cars will only bloom more, and is already posing a challenge for dealing with the hazardous air pollution in urban China with widespread impact on health, productivity and quality of life.
"To be honest, the more the air is polluted, the more I prefer to drive, as I don't like taking a crowded bus or walking outside in such bad air," said subway train driver Gao Fei.
Twenty years ago, bikes, not cars, owned the streets. Today, "buying a car is like buying a bicycle," said Gao as he drove his black Buick Regal sedan in west Beijing.
"It hasn't been long since Chinese people owned their own cars. So for them a car is still something quite fresh and so they prefer to drive after so many years of riding bicycles," he said. "They still would prefer to enjoy the traffic jam rather than suffer on the crowded bus."
"While burning of coal for power plants is a major source of air pollution across China, vehicle emissions are the single biggest source of PM2.5 - a secondary pollutant that forms in the air and is tiny enough to enter deep into the lungs - in Beijing," said the capital's former vice mayor, Hong Feng.
He says vehicles account for 22 percent of PM2.5 in the capital, followed by 17 percent from coal burning and 16 percent from construction site dust. In recent days, air quality went off the index in Beijing as the capital turned into a white landscape with buildings eaten up by murk.
Government officials will now be working together to come up with appropriate policies to curb the problem and prevent further congestions.
