Cautionary tales on air-quality improvement in Beijing

The official air-quality statistic reported that Beijing had a 9.9% decline in the annual concentration of PM2.5 in 2016. While this statistic offered some relief for the inhabitants of the capital, we present several analyses based on Beijing's PM2.5 data of the past 4 years at 36 monitoring sites along with meteorological data of the past 7 years. The analyses reveal the air pollution situation in 2016 was not as rosy as the 9.9% decline would convey, and improvement if any was rather uncertain. The paper also provides an assessment on the city's PM2.5 situation in the past 4 years.