In the News
March 17, 2018
Face mask vendors in China had a bad time in the past winter as improving air quality dampened sales.
Anti-pollution masks sold on Alibaba’s online marketplace Tmall saw noticeable decline, with the number sold to residents in Beijing dropping 52 percent year-on-year during the first half of December, according to data from Tmall.
Sales in nearby regions such as Tianjin and Shijiazhuang also dropped compared with last year.
The decline in sales of smog-related products came as some Chinese cities enjoyed the clearest winter sky in five years thanks to sustained pollution control efforts.
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“China is winning at record pace,” Michael Greenstone, a professor at the University of Chicago, wrote in a recent article published in the New York Times.
According to his studies, residents in China could see their lifespans extend by 2.4 years on average if the declines in air pollution persisted.