12 Wonderful (And Weird) Ways To Tackle Pollution in China

In April London-based firm Orproject revealed the Bubbles project, which involved huge bubble-like structures filled with clean air. The idea was developed with the firm’s Beijing team.

These are all the rage in Chinese cities. However it’s been revealed that millions of them have no effective filters, basically making them a smog fashion accessory.

Last year traffic police in Shanghai were given anti-pollution nose filters, dubbed “invisible masks”, to protect them from car fumes. You can, of course, get more conspicuous nose filters, like this guy’s.

The idea, proposed by Shaocai Yu of Zhejiang University, is to get sprinklers on top of tall buildings to mimic natural rain that removes aerosol and gas pollutants.

Earlier this year the Aviation Industry Corporation of China announced plans to launch drones into the sky to tackle city smog. The drones freeze harmful particles with chemicals.

To try to force local governors to take more measures to curb pollution, the main Chinese government names and shames the worst cities for air pollutants each month.

It's not all negative – the government also gives financial rewards to regions that tackle pollution most effectively.

This might not solve the wider problem of pollution, but a Hong Kong company has come up with coffins featuring a reusable outer shell, reducing the amount of waste and time taken to burn. So people can be green to the end…

A programme introduced in a Hebei school last December had kids learning “anti-smog martial arts”, including moves designed to make their lungs stronger to cope with pollution.