China is not just cleaning its air; it’s redefining global green leadership.
In 2013, Beijing vanished under a toxic haze so thick it was called the “Airpocalypse.” The air quality index broke its scale. The streets fell silent. And for the first time in decades, China’s economic miracle collided with its environmental reality.
What happened next was one of the fastest cleanups in human history — a transformation from smog-choked megacities to blue skies, from pollution to power. Air pollution in some of the big cities in China has fallen by over 54% in the last 10 years.
A decade ago, China was grappling with one of the worst air pollution crises in the world. Fast forward to today—China’s skies are clearer, and its air quality has drastically improved.
And from that campaign to clean the air, China developed a strategy that sees it today massively dominate global renewable energy development and production – and lower the cost of such technology so it is accessible to the developing world, and now the just the privileged West.
This video looks at:
☁️ How the “Airpocalypse” became a legitimacy crisis for the Communist Party
🏙️ How the “Mayor Economy” — once driven by GDP — was rewired to deliver clean air
🌊 The rise of “River Chiefs” and the purge of 18,000 officials for pollution failures
🔋 How China used subsidies to crash the global price of solar panels by 80%
🚗 Why 70% of the world’s batteries and 60% of wind turbines now come from China
🤝 Why the West can’t solve climate change without China — and the paradox of decoupling.
Source: The US-China Narrative, November 2025.
China Environment News 