HAIKOU, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- A new business is emerging in China's south island province of Hainan, which is famous for its stunning ocean views and good air quality.
"In the near future, you might see office workers in some North China cities wearing respirators and breathing fresh air from Hainan on the go," said 50-year-old Luo Lin, a businessman who sells fresh air in a can.
Since 2016, Luo and his partner Liu Jin have sold about 50,000 bottles of fresh air from the Bawangling National Nature Reserve, in Hainan's Changjiang Li Autonomous County.
Their major clients are from cities in northern China, which has long been plagued by heavy smog, particularly during the winter heating season.
"Twenty years ago, nobody expected to make money from selling water, but now, selling drinking water is common. Therefore, it is possible to sell fresh air from forests as eco-products," said Luo.
Bawangling, where forest coverage is around 98 percent, has over 6,000 negative oxygen ions per cubic centimeter on average, six times the standard of clean air stated by the World Health Organization.
"We are selling it as entry lux. An eight-liter can of fresh air costs 108 yuan (15.6 U.S. dollars)," Luo said.
With technology support from experts at the University of Science and Technology of China, the bottle's cap can function as a respirator, and when customers press the bottle, the collected air will come out of it.
A famous hospital in Beijing has introduced the air bottles to their wards, as the increase in negative oxygen ions helps improve hospital air conditions as well as the health of patients.
Changjiang was a resource-reliant county before 2009. As China stepped up efforts in environmental protection, Changjiang started to transform its heavy-pollution industries into emerging industries.
In 2017, Changjiang had 353 days of fairly good air quality.
"From selling mining resources to selling fresh air, we are striving for the transformation to eco-friendly industries and tourism," said Huang Jincheng, the county's Party secretary.
