In recent years, China has made great efforts to improve the quality of its environment. It has stepped up efforts especially after many Chinese cities experienced more than usual smoggy days in the past few years.

The Vice-Minister of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection has briefed the press about the progress made in combating environmental pollution in 2013. He says China has outlined action plans on combating air pollution and 35 measures were introduced last year for this purpose.

China has also strengthened law enforcement against those who violate environmental protection laws.

In 2013, the Ministry of Environment improved the standards of emissions by enterprises and controlled the emission of pollutants of six industries, including steel, coal, electricity and the chemical industry.

In the first half of the year, China provided 10 billion yuan to five provinces and municipalities to improve the quality of air. According to information released by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, 62 out of the 74 officially monitored cities in China did not meet the pollution standard on at least 15 days in December. That's twice as many cities as in November.

"We detailed our requirements on combating air pollution in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. We have asked Beijing to reduce its coal consumption by 13 million tons, Tianjin by 10 million tons and Heibei by 40 million tons. We also asked Hebei to reduce its steel capacity by 60 million tons," Zhai Qing, Vice-Minister of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection, said at the press conference.

"Meanwhile, we divided the plan into 80 tasks and distributed them to 34 departments. We made clear what task is to be done by whom, when to finish and outlined timetable and roadmap. It has laid a solid foundation for achieving the goals."