Shanghai wants to dim light pollution

Shanghai has become the first city in China to legislate against light pollution, and with the newly revised municipal environmental protection regulation taking effect on Monday, offenders will face fines up to 50,000 yuan ($7,400).

Dubbed a "city without night", the East China metropolis is famous for dazzling neon lights, LED billboards and light shows across its commercial areas and tourist sites, but the excessive artificial lighting has brought negative effects.

Wei Rui, deputy director of the city construction and environmental protection committee of the Shanghai People's Congress, told China Central Television that the Shanghai citizen hotline received 3,341 complaints related to light pollution in 2021, an increase of 84 percent compared with 2017.