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Can confirm with own anecdotal evidence, was there in 2007 and they told me there is some kind of communist party summit (and thus increased security in parts of the city). The sky was blue and Beijing was kind of beautiful. Sure enough 1 or 2 days after that summit was over you could barely see the other side of the street.

Can confirm. I visited just after Trump left, and the air was pretty good.

Also, I've heard from locals that they're starting to relocate dirty industries to nearby cities that foreigners tend not to visit. I visited one, and there were a few days of pretty bad smog (but blue skys some days, too).

I have accidentally done this twice now, pollution also tends to be the lowest in the fall