"If I work in your Beijing, I would shorten my life at least five years," Premier Zhu Rongji, a career politician from Shanghai, quipped in 1999, referring to the notorious air pollution in China's northern capital.
Research has confirmed life expectancy in northern China is 5.5 years shorter than in the south owing to the worse air pollution, and the shocking difference stems from a well-intentioned government policy to keep the residents of northern China warm in winter.
According to a group of U.S. and Chinese academics who have studied the impact of China's air pollution, "During the 1950-1980 central planning period, the Chinese government established free winter heating of homes and offices as a basic right via the provision of free coal for boilers.