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The pollution in China’s cities is so toxic that many people wear masks when outside to protect themselves from particles in the air. Families purchase expensive air purification systems for their homes and stay inside as much as possible.

How Bad Is It? On Christmas Day 2015, people living in China’s largest cities woke up to atmosphere so filled with smog that when they went outside people standing within ten yards (9 m) of them were ghostlike figures, shrouded in haze. Traffic lights and headlights glowed eerily and could barely be seen. Visibility was so poor that the day-after-Christmas flights out of Beijing were canceled. People were warned to stay indoors for health reasons. Overall, seven of the ten most polluted cities in the world are in China. The country’s air pollution problem is

Global Trade and the Environment

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