A few months after moving to Beijing, I realised something unexpected — I was sleeping better than I had in years. This was a surprising revelation in what can politely be termed a “challenging” urban environment.

In the various cities I have lived in, I have grown accustomed to my slumber being pierced by the early morning rumbling of a petrol or diesel vehicle. In London, my cobbled street was haunted by the growl and beeping of rubbish trucks reversing into the lane. In Taipei, rusty repair vans would rattle down the alleys, blaring adverts for menial household tasks. In Hong Kong, trucks dumped deliveries of dried fish at a nearby market.

Beijing was different. It wasn’t just my high-rise apartment in a residential neighbourhood. The overall noise from streets across the capital and in many other Chinese cities I visit seems to be growing dramatically quieter since my first visit as an adult in 2016.