Skiing puts Zhangjiakou on the map

Healthy environment

Zhangjiakou is well-known for its blue sky, green land, clean water and beautiful mountains.

Its clean environment and rich natural resources have helped win the city recognition as one of China's top cities for its quality of life.

And in the past five years, the city has invested 2.27 billion yuan ($369 million) on efforts to further improve its ecology and environment.

According to an air quality report published by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Zhangjiakou enjoyed the most fresh air last year among all the northern cities in the country.

The concentration of PM2.5 in the city was the lowest among 13 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. And the city's air quality even ranks the first among the 37 monitored cities of to the north of Yangtze River.

In summer, the average temperature in Zhangjiakou is 19 C. The moderate temperature and fresh air make the city a "natural oxygen bar" with high levels of oxygen negative ions.

Zhangjiakou has also invited the Beijing Environment Sanitation Engineering Group Co Ltd to administrate and monitor the sanitary environment in these areas from 2015, as the disposal of waste must conform to the same requirements as those for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.