China After Mao: The Rise of a Superpower

by Frank Dikötter

Lax environmental controls were crucial to selling a trillion dollars of goods to the rest of the world, as the companies that dominated the market were also the most polluting, whether they made steel, aluminium, cement, chemicals, plastics, leather or paper. The horizon was blurred, from clouds of brownish smoke spewed into the air by natural gas refineries and coal plants in Xinjiang, all the way to Beijing, buffeted every summer by hazardous sandstorms that turned the sky yellow. According to a government report, 300 million people in the countryside had no alternative but to drink water tainted by chemicals and other contaminants. Entire rivers were dangerous to the touch. Some ran dry before reaching the sea. About 90 per cent of all cities had contaminated underground water. In Shanghai canals bubbled with pollution, even in cold weather. Tap water smelled foul. Roughly one-third of the country was exposed to acid rain.