Gallery: The Brutal Reality of Life in China's Most Polluted Cities
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The Shuogang group steel factory, Beijing. Despite the government promising to close all major polluting factories within city limits following the 2008 Olympics, several are still operating behind closed doors. At dawn every day the factory waste-water pipe illegally spews hazardous chemicals into a local dried up lake. The accumulated green and brown deposits contain poisonous heavy metal deposits, which are visible here.
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The fourth ring road of East Beijing, with a coal factory visible in the background. In the years following the Olympics and the explosion of urban air pollution concerns, the Chinese government had promised to close down all major polluting factories within the capital's limits.
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National City Planning Museum. A worker peers out from beneath the miniature scale model of Beijing's vast central districts, while developers have a discussion in the background. Beijing's population has risen from 11 million to over 20 million since 2000.
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Commuters between Xingtai and Beijing pass by the hundreds of factories that make Hebei province China's worst for air pollution.
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A lone security guard patrols the disused side of the Shuogang steel factory in East Beijing.
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Xingtai was China's most polluted city in 2013---a small industrial town in the south of Hebei province. Its only green space is the 'Artificial Park.' The ice covers the tons of garbage that has been dumped by local business owners. The lake is pumped by the same water supply that reaches thousands of poorer locals within city walls.
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On the outskirts of Xingtai, Zhang Wei mourns his brother who died from chromium poisoning. Wei’s brother was a former worker at the steel factory in the background. The small local village has seen over 30 cancer-related deaths in the past 15 years, making it one of several unacknowledged ‘Cancer Villages’ dotted around China.
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A view of Beijing's second largest illegal landfill site. A factory and modern high-rises are located only 1,600 feet away. Beijing's notorious 'seventh ring road' was described as a circle of landfill and garbage disposal sites encompassing the city. Following the Olympics, promises were made to clear up these sites. Several still exist, now cordoned off to public access or hidden within slum settlements.
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China has only started taking active steps towards dealing with its widespread national environmental problems in the last six years. Promises to cut down coal use, curb heavy-metal emissions, and restructure congested urban spaces have been made top-down from the government. While images of making the country 'green' are readily found near corporations, progress on a local level has been severely hindered by corruption and state prevarication.
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Several villagers along the Fenghua river in Ningbo have no choice but to use the polluted water for bathing and washing food and clothes. The nearby village of Rongjianqui has a population of just 600. In the last decade, 95 residents have been reported victims of cancer.
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The waste-water treatment plant inside Youngor textiles factory in Ningbo. Often the color is purple, dark brown or (as pictured here) deep blue after treatment. Official guidelines require the waste-water to be clear and diluted to 1/100 parts.
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A wastewater discharge pipe for the Youngor textiles factory in the Yinzhou district near Ningbo. A Greenpeace investigation into the company revealed severe negligence and malpractice. Youngor promised to improve its waste management, yet as of 2014 the discharge pipe has simply been moved further downstream, away from the factory, to an area out of sight from Yinzhou's settlements. The toxic waste-water is pumped out every morning between the quiet hours of three to five am. Just under two miles downstream, the same water is used for the local supply.
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A Chinese state video promotes the use of carbon-based fuels as the only feasible source for China's continued, rapid growth. Following the Olympics, political promises to drastically reduce air pollution were made with a 2020 deadline. To date, the major factories have simply been moved to less conspicuous locations and air pollution levels have severely worsened.
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In Xingtai, the PM2.5 count regularly exceeds 800 (3 times the UN's maximum 'extremely hazardous' limit), affecting local communities, and sending waves of air pollution down to Eastern coastal cities and Beijing.
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The Youngor textiles factory compound in Ningbo shrouded in smog at dawn. Toxic waste-water used to be dumped midday into this section of the Fenghua River.
