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Coal is not only an important energy source in China but also a major source of air pollution. Because of this, China’s national sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions have been the highest in the world for many years, and since the 1990s, the territory of China’s south and southwest has become the third largest acid-rain-prone region in the world. In order to control SO2 emissions, the Chinese government has formulated and promulgated a series of policies and regulations, but it faces great difficulties in putting them into practice. In this retrospective look at the history of SO2 control in China, we found that Chinese SO2 control policies have become increasingly strict and rigid. We also found that the environmental policies and regulations are more effective when central officials consistently give environmental protection top priority. Achieving China’s environmental goals, however, has been made difficult by China’s economic growth. Part of this is due to the practice of environmental protection appearing in the form of an ideological “campaign” or “storm” that lacks effective economic measures. More recently, better enforcement of environmental laws and regulations has been achieved by adding environmental quality to the performance assessment metrics for leaders at all levels. To continue making advances, China needs to reinforce the economic and environmental assessments for pollution control projects and work harder to integrate economic measures into environmental protection. Nonetheless, China has a long way to go before economic growth and environmental protection are balanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]