Johan Ericsson took plenty of medicine with him from Sweden to China's biggest industrial city Shanghai at the suggestion of a guidebook, which warned of the city's poor air quality.

Ericsson was glad to find he had no use for the medicine.

Sunday's air quality reached level II or fairly good in Shanghai, with a pollution reading of 51 to 100, the oxygen-nitrogen index less than 50 and sulfur dioxide and particulate matter index less than 100, according to Shanghai's Environment Monitor Center.

During past winters in Shanghai, the air was often heavily polluted as residents fired coal-burning boilers to keep warm, said Fu Qingyan, a researcher with the Environment Science Institute in Shanghai.

"I was never able to enjoy the sun and outdoors in past winters, but now I can," said local resident Ju Zhaoqin, looking at the blue sky outside his window. Ju's opinion is shared by many in the eastern China's city.

In the past three years, Shanghai reduced chimneys by 2,200, or 14 per week. At the same time, more than 30 square kilometers of newly-built grassland appeared in the city.

Cars are no longer described as "flowing chimneys" and more than 38,000 taxis and 580 buses began to consume clear fuels such as LPG or CNG. Eighty percent of newly-added autos in 2002 reached the Europe II tail gas emission level, according to Fu Qingyan.

Since 2000, Shanghai has invested more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) on environmental improvements each year, which represents 3 percent of the GDP of the city.

Statistics showed that there were five days with level I or II air quality each week in 1999 and six days in 2000. From Aug. 30 to July 7 2002, Shanghai saw a record eight consecutive days with level I.

(Xinhua News Agency January 6, 2003)