Kunming is among China's ten cities with the best air quality in 2014, according to the annual report of the Ministry of Environmental Protection on the air quality of the 74 major cities.

In particular, only eight of the 74 cities managed to meet national standards on the six monitored pollution measures such as carbon monoxide, ozone and PM2.5 pollutants, which are airborne particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter. Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan province in southwestern China, is one of those eight cities, which met the national requirements and standards.

The other seven well-performing cities were Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Huizhou in Guangdong, a province on the South China Sea coast, Fuzhou in Fujian, Haikou in the island province of Hainan, Lhasa in Tibet autonomous region and the coastal city of Zhoushan in Zhejiang province.

Black-headed gulls fly over the wet land in the Yongchang Wet Land Park, Kunming, Yunnan province, Jan 31. [Photo/Xinhua]

10 cities with best air quality

1 Haikou, capital city of South China's Hainan province

2 Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province

3 Lhasa, capital city of Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region

4 Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province

5 Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong province

6 Huizhou, South China's Guangdong province

7 Fuzhou, capital city of East China's Fujian province

8 Xiamen, East China's Fujian province

9 Kunming, capital city of Southwest China's Yunnan province

10 Zhongshan, South China's Guangdong province

10 cities with worst air quality

1 Baoding, North China's Hebei province 2 Xingtai, North China's Hebei province

3 Shijiazhuang, North China's Hebei province

4 Tangshan, North China's Hebei province

5 Handan, North China's Hebei province

6 Hengshui, North China's Hebei province

7 Jinan, East China's Shandong province

8 Langfang, North China's Hebei province

9 Zhengzhou, North China's Henan province

10 Tianjin, North China's Hebei province

By Shi Zihan and edited by Mevlut Katik