China Environmental Law

What happens when smoke stacks replace haystacks?  The tensions between farms and encroaching factories occur in every country, but given China’s rapid development, they happen with greater frequency here.

For the residents of Shihezi farm in China’s north western Xinjiang Autonomous Region, the approach of new chemical plants sparked a battle which has lasted more than a year, and is not over yet. 

Shihezi is actually a city, and to be even more precise, it is part of the Eighth Agricultural Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corp (XPCC).  The XPCC

is a unique economic and semi-military governmental organization existing in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People’s Republic of China. The XPCC has de facto administrative authority over several medium-sized cities as well as settlements and farms all across Xinjiang. It has its own administrative structure, fulfilling governmental functions such as healthcare and education for areas under its jurisdiction.

In any event, our protagonists are farmers who lived in Shifezi’s rural outskirts.  Outskirts coveted and developed by the Xinjiang Tianye Corporation, which has, in the opinion of the farmers “turned formerly fertile farmland into a polluted wasteland.”

An article on July 31 in the China Youth Daily (picked up by China.org) reports that

One stretch of land is hemmed in on three sides by a calcium carbide factory, a cement plant, a PVC plant and an acetylene factory. The calcium carbide factory is only 200 meters away from people’s houses. The 1000 or so residents have to keep their windows shut all year round to escape the smell, noise and dust. Clothes hung out to dry are filthy in a matter of minutes.

The leaves of their cotton plants are dark grey instead of green. Cotton output has dropped by a third, from 300 kg per mu to 200 kg per mu.

Their sunflowers wither and die after being watered. Those given less water survive longer. Residents say waste water discharged by the factories has polluted local water sources.

“We can’t go on living here. It’s literally killing us,” 68-year-old Wang Lixian told the newspaper. “There used to be eighteen retired living workers here. Seven moved away and are all still alive, but eight of the eleven who stayed have died. Living here is a death sentence.”

Initially it appears, some thought was given to relocating the farming families in the neighborhood of the new chemical plants.  In January 2008 the leader of the Shihezi farm collective came around to solicit residents’ suggestions on relocation.  Those suggestions (involving fair compensation for the farm property) were apparently ignored.  In February, however, “the residents were told they would have to pay 750 yuan per square meter to buy new homes - a price far beyond their means. Furthermore they were told to tear down their old houses themselves and, most worryingly, hand over their house ownership certificates.” 

Having failed to entice the farmers with this sweet deal, the local leader switched to a favorite fall-back stratagem: “problem, what problem?”  In March, the leader told the local residents that “The factories have installed first-class environment protection facilities. There is no pollution problem and therefore no need for people to be relocated.”

There was no fooling the wise old guys of Shihezi farm, however: “If there is no pollution, where is the foul smell coming from?” said retired worker Zhu Jingli indignantly.  Amen brother Zhu!

The farmers now took the offensive:

In order to prove that their living environments had been polluted, [66-year-old ] Chang Lesheng invited a professional cameraman to video the pollution. “He filmed clouds of thick smoke belching from factories,” said Chang.

Then 70-year-old Zhu Jingli and 73-year-old Li Hanzhang went from door to door asking about the effects of the pollution on people, animals and crops. Zhu Lingli wrote up the results of the survey.

This survey may have prompted a temporary change of heart at Xinjiang Tianye Corporation, because it issued a public announcement which seemed to evidence some concern for local resident’s grievances.  This announcement prompted Wang Lixian to call the local environment department.  He was told that all those living within 1000 meters from chemical factories would be relocated. “But when he phoned back two days later he was told the person he had spoken to no longer worked there. Then no-one answered the phone for the next 10 days.”  I love that don’t answer the phone trick.

The Shihezi farmers weren’t taking this one lying down.  The local collective leader was trying to get them to abandon their protest, but they were set on taking their concerns to a higher political level.  In order “to make sure his letters of complaint would be safely delivered, Zhu traveled 15km to post them in an area not controlled by the local leadership.”  After a month, however, they still had received no reply.

At this point they decide to go nuclear.

Finally the workers decide to take legal steps to safeguard their rights. They decided to exercise their constitutional right to demand the recall of the local people’s congress deputy.

“Our interests have been seriously harmed but nobody is listening. The people’s congress deputy is supposed to represent us and should be doing something about the pollution problems. He [their local people's congress deputy] has been neglecting his duty.”

On June 2 Wang Lixian and Zhu Jingli presented a recall petition signed by 50 workers to the Standing Committee of Shihezi People’s Congress. The petition said Chen Jun, deputy to the Shihezi People’s Congress had ignored the pollution problems within his electoral district and should be recalled from his position as deputy to the people’s congress.

I think we all know how this turned out: “[a] few days later they received a reply from the Standing Committee saying their attempt to recall Chen Jun had failed.”

The next steps for the farmers are unclear.  Fighting “City Hall” didn’t work, and the Xinjiang Tianye Corporation seems pretty well-connected as this picture from June 13, 2008 captioned “Premier Wen Jiabao visits Shi Hezi Tianye corporation” shows

Coincidentally (?!),

At about 4 o’clock in the morning on June 13, [2008] someone broke a window of Zhu Jingli’s small shop. Hearing the noise Zhu went to check what was going on. There was a strong smell of petroleum and he found half a bottle of gasoline nearby. “Was someone trying to burn my shop down?” Zhu called the police.

Yes, someone was trying to burn your shop down.  This nasty turn may explain why the farmers are getting some pressure from their own family members to give up their crusade.  The old farmers, however,

find it annoying that younger people seem uninterested in justice or fair play. Zhu Jingli’s daughter urged him to give up his efforts, saying “Stop looking for trouble. You are not the only one suffering from pollution. You can’t right all the world’s wrongs.”

But Zhu Jingli won’t give up. Even if he achieves nothing he says he will continue to fight for justice.

Keep fighting guys, I like your spirit, and thanks to China Youth Daily for publishing this report!