People visit the Shenxianju Scenic Area in Taizhou's Xianju county, Zhejiang province, on Feb 27. [Photo/IC]

The Ministry of Ecology and the Environment recently released data on air and surface water quality in 339 Chinese cities at and above the prefecture-level throughout January.

Six Zhejiang cities made the top 20 for air quality among 168 key cities nationwide. The cities were Zhoushan (2nd), Lishui (6th), Taizhou (12th), Ningbo (14th), Wenzhou (17th), and Quzhou (20th).

The percentage of days with good air quality among the 339 Chinese cities throughout January was 74.7 percent, 5.2 percentage points higher than in the same month of last year. The average PM2.5 (particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers) density in the cities dropped by 15.6 percent year-on-year to 54 micrograms per cubic meter.

Lishui ranked 17th among the 339 cities in terms of the quality of water bodies within its territory.