A government reminder to refrain from pyrotechnics over holiday

Shanghai’s ecology and environment bureau is asking residents not to set off fireworks and firecrackers during Spring Festival for the sake of good air quality.

The bureau is forecasting good air quality over the holiday as long as people refrain from pyrotechnics.

Setting off fireworks and firecrackers is a Chinese New Year tradition, but the government has been clamping down on such revelry to prevent air pollution.

In 2013, the air was very polluted in the early morning hours of Lunar New Year's Day. The concentration of PM2.5 reached 524 micrograms per cubic meter in the city, 449 higher than the safety standard, according to the bureau.

Air quality has significantly improved since 2016 due to strict regulations enacted by the local government, which made it illegal to set off fireworks and firecrackers in the area within Outer Ring Road.

The city’s average concentration of PM2.5 last year — 32 micrograms per cubic meter — was the lowest since record keeping began in 2012.