Pollution in china is increasing due to the extensive use of coal-fired power plants, which if left to continue will cause acid rain in Asia resulting in devastating the ecology of the area. .
Within 20 years acid rain will devastate the ecology of a large chunk of Asia, due to China's extensive use of dirty coal. As the world's largest producer of this dirty coal, China has a long way to go along the polluting curve of industrial progress. The air quality in nine out of ten Chinese cities is below the nation's minimum standard, which in itself is the lowest level approved by the World Health Organisation. "The Economists"" Pollution in China article stated that China is the world's greatest environmental timebomb, which is just waiting to go off. Another problem is that local party bosses ignore any indications from the central government that conflict with their desire to make money, however dirtily. It has been ranked that the levels of suspended particulates and sulphur dioxide in Chinese cities are among the highest in the world. The World Bank did a study on eleven Chinese cities and found that particulates from coal burning cause more than 50 000 premature deaths and 400 000 cases of chronic bronchitis a year. To add this, the damage caused by air pollution in all Chinese cities already exceeds 20% of the total income of the city inhabitants. Richard Ackermann, the World Bank's environmental manager and joint author of a study on pollution in China said, "The biggest problem in China is the State-owned enterprises. They will have to be reconstructed, privatised or closed down and the social costs will be enormous, so it will not happen overnight." .
The main cities in China that produce harmful emissions into the atmosphere include Beijing, Shanghai, Harbin, Guangzhou and Chengdu. Another city in northeast China is Benxi, which in 1988 was so covered in sulphurous coal smoke that it was hidden from satellite cameras.