An activity known as "10 Environmental Events I Was Most Concerned About in 2013" revealed that the environment and air quality were the top concerns for Suzhou citizens. The activity started on December 20 and received votes from more than 1,600 netizens and readers in four days.

Early this year, Suzhou was named a "National Ecological City" by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People’s Republic of China, becoming one of the first national ecological cities. Suzhou is expected to be a demonstration city of national ecological civilization until 2020, during which time the city plans to invest 36.22 billion ($5.97 billion) on 85 ecological civilization projects.

Suzhou, regarded as the most livable city, has concentrated on the ecological environment. Half of the top 10 environmental events are related to ecological civilization.

In addition, citizens also care about air quality. Since December, smog has been a hot issue across the country. Suzhou is no exception. Projects associated with air quality and curbing air pollution are no doubt on the list.