Life on the Qiantang River: flowers and pollution
People sometimes say that because eastern China has a developed economy, its environment is well protected, but is this really the case? On a visit to the Nanyang chemical industry zone, near Hangzhou, I found that despite its veneer of beautiful flowers, the area has pollution problems that have not been dealt with effectively.
Nanyang was one of the first industrial parks at a township or village level in Zhejiang province. Years of heavy pollution in the area saw companies regularly targeted by the media. Local government repeated that they would clean things up: local firms undertook to meet environmental standards by the end of 2007, and factories were supposed to have been relocated by that time. However, on April 23, 2008, I saw no sign of anyone moving.
Since 1997, land in Wuli village has been taken from the locals and allocated to the zone for chemical, electrochemical, steel and power plants. Many villagers no longer have enough land to grow their own food. A family of three receives about 1,200 yuan (US$173) in compensation every year, which works out at around 1 yuan per person every day.
One villager, Shao Guantong, said he became very worried about the change in land use and the rampant pollution from small chemical factories. He could not read and did not have an “educated” way to resist, but his wife, Wei Dongying, decided to keep an “anti-pollution journal” to log photos of pollution by local firms. They used this to work with other villagers and try to uphold their rights. They demanded the factories clean up their act or relocate, and urged the government to move the factories or relocate the villagers.
Wei opened up a map of the local waterways. “We kept on complaining,” she said. “For a while we got some media attention, but the root problems were never solved. On the contrary, the area is now practically covered with chemical zones, industrial zones and development zones. The farmers have all lost their land, and the land has been badly polluted. Even if they got the land back, nobody would eat any of the crops.” Wei visited Beijing a number of times to discuss the issue with environmental groups.
As spring turned to summer, flowers had opened along the banks of the Qiantang River, also known as the Zhe River. There are more than 20 chemical plants in this area. Despite the chimneys and waste water outlets, the factories grow flowers out front; you could not see the heavily polluted water in Wei`s photos. The water is mostly clear, although there is a slight odour if you get close.
“They became sneaky,” said Shao. “They store [the pollution] in the factory and release it at night. The Qiantang River runs along here and they dump the water when the tide comes up. A reporter came here once – the reporter waited through the night and filmed them doing it.”
The Nanyang waste water collection centre sits beside the Qiantang River. It was built three years ago, but it is now only semi-functional. Waste water from factories is supposed to be collected there and processed at an urban sanitation facility 17 kilometres away before re-entering the river. In actual fact, half of the centre`s land has been used to build a chemical plant.
The local farmers take pride in building their own houses, and save their money to build large and beautiful homes. But the air inside still smells bad, as untreated fumes from the factories waft through the windows. By the end of my 10-hour trip to the village my throat felt sore. But the locals live here month after month, year after year. “Friends who have visited say this is no place to be living,” said Shao. “But it is where we live and we will stay regardless, as will our grandchildren.”
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