China continued to make headway in environmental protection throughout 2025, with notable improvements in both air quality and surface water conditions, according to the latest data released by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
According to the Ministry, the average concentration of PM2.5 in 339 cities at the prefectural level and above stood at 28.0 micrograms per cubic meter, marking a year-on-year decrease of 4.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the average PM10 concentration reached 48 micrograms per cubic meter, down by 2.0 percent compared to the previous year.
Excluding days affected by exceptional sand and dust weather, the average proportion of days with good air quality was 89.3 percent, an increase of 1.9 percentage points from 2024.
In terms of surface water quality, monitoring data showed further improvement nationwide.
Among 3,641 state-monitored surface water sections, 91.4 percent were rated as good quality (Grade I-III), up by 1.0 percentage point year-on-year.
The proportion of sections with inferior quality (below Grade V, the lowest level in China's five-tier water quality rating system) remained stable at 0.6 percent.
Key river basins, including the Yangtze River, Yellow River, Pearl River, Songhua River, Huaihe River, Haihe River, and Liaohe River, as well as rivers in northwestern and southwestern regions and those in east China's provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian, recorded good-quality water in 93.0 percent of monitored sections, an improvement of 0.6 percentage points.
The below-Grade V proportion in these basins was 0.4 percent, a slight increase of 0.1 percentage points.
Among 209 key lakes and reservoirs under observation, 78.5 percent attained good water quality, representing a rise of 1.4 percentage points from the previous year. The share of those with inferior water quality dropped by 1.0 percentage points to 3.3 percent.
China reports steady improvement in air, water quality for 2025
Smart wearable devices are increasingly embedded in daily life in China, where booming sales of watches and smart glasses are reshaping the consumer electronics market. In Beijing's Chaoyang District, smart watches have become a popular choice for shoppers seeking tools to monitor sleep, heart rate and stress.
"I often use my smart watch to monitor my sleep, heart rate, and stress. I hope it could also incorporate AI functions, allowing me to chat with it in-depth or help me complete some simple tasks," said a customer.
Beyond watches, smart glasses powered by large‑model technology are entering China's consumer market, reshaping the landscape of wearable electronics.
"It is more convenient to use smart glasses as earphones at work. This is my third pair of smart glasses, and the functions of the new one is much better than the previous ones," said a customer.
"Smart wearable devices have evolved significantly, shifting from simply displaying data to facilitating effective user interaction. As these product categories update at an accelerating pace and user demands grow increasingly diverse, manufacturers are compelled to accelerate their own cycles of innovation in both functional design and hardware configuration. Take smartwatches as an example: sales in this category have increased by more than 40 percent (compared to the same period in 2024)," said Zhang Jie, manager of Beijing Shuangjing Branch of JD Mall.
According to the latest worldwide quarterly wearable device tracker, in the first three quarters of 2025, global wrist-worn device shipments reached 150 million units, a year-on-year increase of 10 percent.
Among them, China's cumulative shipments totaled 58.43 million units, representing a year-on-year growth of 27.6 percent. In the first half of 2025, the global smart glasses shipments reached 4.065 million units, a year-on-year increase of 64.2 percent, and China's cumulative shipments exceeded 1 million units.
China smart wearables growth fuels consumer electronics boom
