From the end of 2016 to early 2017, many cities across China were hit by severe air pollution. Statistics from the China National Environment Monitoring Center showed that on January 4, 2017, 63.8 percent of Chinese cities were shrouded by smog. There was growing demand for masks, air filters and even ventilation systems at home, pushing many enterprises to cash in on the wildly growing market. In the first half of 2016, 4.5 million air purifiers were sold nationwide – a growth of 58 percent year on year. The sales volume of masks soared to 1.8 billion in 2016, up from 1.2 billion in 2013. Like many other emerging industries, the market was crammed with both good and bad products and experts warned that regulators should introduce stricter standards of market entry and tighten supervision to rein in the chaotic industry.
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