believe that motor vehicles are one of the main sources of air
pollution. This difference is most likely due to the greater
abundance of cars to be seen everyday in the city and, therefore,
urban residents' experience automobile exhaust pollution more
frequently than rural residents. In addition, education level can
also be a major factor affecting the public’s understanding of major
sources of air pollution. Those particularly possessing higher levels
of education believe that motor vehicles are the main pollution
source. This aligns with previous study findings where the social
and economic conditions are shown to possibly affect people’s
understanding of the sources of air pollution (Gray et al., 2013).
Furthermore, data from this study showed that participants who
have had previous international travel experience more often
selected motor vehicles as the main source of air pollution
compared to those who have only travelled domestically; this may
be reflected by their different social and economic conditions.
Residents also thought that industrial facilities are one of the
main sources of air pollution. A previous study conducted in South
Korea by Clarke et al. (2014) confirmed that (1) SO2 mainly comes
from local industrial sites; (2) CO emissions are primarily from
industrial sites (30%) and vehicles (35%); and (3) PM10 is mainly
from the local automotive industry. A recent ecological study
report has shown that mortality due to certain tumors of the
digestive system increased to a greater number among the
residents who live ≤5 km away from metal industry sources at a
municipal level in Spanish regions during the period of 1994–2003
(Garcia–Perez et al., 2012). In our survey, more than 50% of
respondents believed that industrial facilities are one of the main
sources of air pollution, which is consistent with the previous study
by Liu (2014). The present study also found education and
residence area to have an influence on the public’s understanding
regarding pollution from industrial facilities: more urban residents
than rural residents thought that industrial pollution was a main
source of air pollution. This difference may be attributed to the
fact that most of the industrial facilities are located in the city, and
also that residents with higher levels of education are more likely
to pay more attention to air pollution issues.
We also investigated the participants’ attitudes toward
government action on environmental protection, and the majority
of respondents (80%) considered that government effort toward
environmental protection was not sufficient. Almost all participants
showed their support to government for increased spending
towards efforts aiming to improve environmental conditions. The
majority of respondents suggest the government to place the
control of air pollution as one of the highest priority jobs in future.
This finding is important in moving the social dilemma from an
individual perspective to affect policymakers. A major issue in
reducing air pollution is the belief that it will slow economic
growth. The large level of public support in this study can be used
to influence government official support for stricter regulations for
air quality.
Finally, when participants were asked for their suggestions
regarding air pollution control measures, the top three suggestions
were: (1) to control and reduce waste from industrial facilities, (2)
to increase public mass transport and reduce the number of
private cars, and (3) to control and reduce waste burning.
Currently, Nanchang’s main efforts to improve air pollution include
strengthening sewage supervision and management, implementing
motor vehicle emission tests, building subway systems to ease
traffic pressure, and reducing dust produced at construction sites
(Xie, 2014). This study can be helpful in shaping public education
campaigns and strengthening government efforts towards
improving air quality measures. Furthermore, the significance of
the relation between respondents’ demographics and respondents’
perceptions of air pollution sources can contribute to future
researches, whilst appropriate guidance would be made available
to local authorities.
5. Limitations
There are several limitations in this study. The data was
collected in the spring. There may have been seasonality effects
depending on the amount of air pollution experienced at different
times of the year. The results are self–reported so social
desirability may have affected answers.
6. Conclusions
Our study has clearly shown that current poor air quality has
been a major concern of public health in Nanchang. Nearly 97% of
respondents have shown their strong support for increased
funding and action to improve air quality. The large level of public
support could be used by the local government for the
development of stricter regulations for air quality in future. Given
that waste burning was considered to be a main source of air
pollution by a relatively large number of the respondents in this
study, which indicate the public has limited knowledge and
understanding on this issue since waste burning has not been
reported as one of the main sources of air pollution by local
government. Thus, the finding from this study suggests the need
for the government to improve the awareness of the main sources
of air pollution, especially to residents of rural areas with lower
levels of education, in order to more effectively and efficiently
control air pollution problem in Nanchang.
Acknowledgments
This study was funded by Nanchang University through a
Ganjiang Chair Professorship to Dr. Yuanan Lu. This work was
performed as part of the University of Hawaii–Nanchang University
Public Health Partnership.