'I hope the 'APEC Blue' will continue through our joint and unremitting efforts," President Xi Jinping said, picking up on the term used by netizens for the clear skies during the series of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings held in Beijing in November last year.

Xi's remark shows China's resolve to tackle its pollution problems and its determination to build an ecological civilization. Yet to retain the "APEC Blue" skies calls for substantial efforts from all of us, not just the government.

Last year, the PM 2.5 in Beijing declined by 4 percent from the previous year and its sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide indexes also decreased more than 7 percent, meaning 2014 had the largest emissions reduction in years, says People's Daily.

An environmental protection campaign participated in by the whole of society carries the promise of creating an ecological civilization. With a long tradition of promoting harmony between man and nature, the country now regards greater efforts to build a beautiful and advanced ecological civilization as an important part of its broader efforts to promote the rejuvenation of the nation.

As a country with a 1.3 billion population, China faces a series of difficulties and challenges protecting the environment, but it has made clear that it will not repeat the "pollution first, treatment later" path followed by some Western countries in the past centuries.