Last week, an eight-year-old girl from China's Jiangsu province was diagnosed with lung cancer, which was caused, according to doctors, by the tiny particle PM2.5 in air pollution that is most dangerous to health. This case highlighted the reality of exposure to high levels of pollution for vulnerable groups such as children.

Such headlines about the dangers of PM2.5 have become daily occurrences in China after pollution in cities such as Beijing reached unprecedented levels this year, prompting intense media pressure and public outcry that forced the government to introduce a flurry of contingency plans and bold targets to reduce PM2.5 levels by 25% by 2017.

For those living in Beijing, like myself, the grey shroud that often engulfs the city has become a fact of life, often dictating the freedom to perform daily rituals, from deciding if it's safe to go for a run, to opting to take a taxi over cycling through the smog. But the majority of the public pay little heed to its dangers because it's simply too impractical to fight on a daily basis.

While domestic dissatisfaction with air quality has been prevalent for many years, it was external pressures that forced the government to pay attention to the issue, after the US embassy in Beijing first publicised PM2.5 readings taken from its rooftop in 2011. The media frenzy that followed triggered a more widespread awareness of the dangers of PM2.5, leading to officials to disclose levels in major cities across the country. This was a pivotal turning point for China's fight against pollution, as it unnerved a government that wants nothing less than to "lose face" internationally.

With growing media coverage of the harmful effects of PM2.5, personal attitudes to its impact are also rapidly changing, and many are taking the necessary precautions. Well-to-do families, young white-collar workers and those who are internationally minded are becoming increasingly unsettled about the long-term effects of living in such an unhealthy environment, and at the heart of these concerns is often the lasting damage to children's health. Many are questioning how viable it is to raise a family in heavily polluted cities, and people speak of "hatching plans to escape Beijing" by emigrating abroad for the sake of their offspring.

For the very rich, relocation abroad has already begun. Professionals are also taking advantage of skills-based immigration systems in countries such as Australia and Canada. Children are, not surprisingly, the key factor behind the trend, for a country where the one-child policy of the last 30 years has spawned generations of "little emperors" that form the energy-intensive nucleuses of families. According to the Chinese International Migration Annual Report 2012, "a better education [for offspring]" was the number one reason given for Chinese citizens adopting new nationalities.

For those who are less privileged, many are hopeful that the government's strategy to invest $227bn (£142bn) to curb pollution by 2017 will be effective, given that they are state-driven objectives with clout. But many experts have cast doubt on how China's continued reliance on a coal-driven economy and the demand in public energy consumption of large cities could rein in pollution so quickly, given that such targets normally take developed countries decades to reach.

For the growing contingent of middle-class families, they may be unwilling to wait that long. There is a widespread saying in China that everything a parent does is "for the sake of his children", and while money will buy access to prime healthcare, foreign brand names, untainted infant milk formula and even a foreign education, it can't buy clean air for a baby born in Beijing today. In five years' time, if there is still no sign of clearer skies, and as growing cases of PM2.5-related health complications from having grown up in China's smog-laden cities emerge, the middle class will be less willing to tolerate it in silence.

The world's eyes on China's pollution will continue to act as a key force in influencing how bold government policies to cut pollution are in the future, but internal discontent will ring louder and resonate more. As the wealthy come down from the dizzying highs of luxury brands and newfound material culture, and focus on the rights for their children to grow up in a safe environment, China's "little emperors" may become the real drivers of change.