Fine particulate (PM2.5) dynamics before and after China's Reform and Opening up policy in Shenzhen

Understanding the trade-off between urbanization and air pollution could provide important insights on urban sustainable development. Such cases in China were very rare for PM2.5 due to the recent short-term availability of the PM2.5 monitoring records. We therefore estimated the long time series PM2.5 concentration in Shenzhen during 1973-2017 under the truth that PM2.5 is the major component of PM10, and PM2.5 have a significant relationship (y= 100e(-0.086x); r= 0.69, P < 0.05) with meteorological visibility in Shenzhen. We found that Shenzhen's PM2.5 concentration experienced an inversed U-shape changes with five distinct stages of slow increase, rapid increase, stay in high level, slow decrease and rapid decrease. Shenzhen's PM2.5 concentration dynamic was not fully followed the EKC's inverse U-shape but a M-shape. The results of this research would not only provide an example for the other cities in China but also suggest to other cities in low-and mid-income countries for developing through a better way of paying more attention to the trade-off between urban development and urban air pollution.