Chinese farmer beaten for daring official to swim in filthy

[Vampirate Kitsune]

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Chinese farmer beaten for daring official to swim in filthy river

Activist attacked by 40-strong mob after bet to highlight pollution in China's waterways

A Chinese farmer who dared a local environment official to swim in his province’s polluted rivers has been badly beaten in an attack his family says was linked to his activism.

Chen Zuqian, from the township of Banqiao in Zhejiang province, was one of a number of farmers and business people who publicly offered money to government officials to swim in rivers to highlight the sorry state of China’s waterways.

Mr Chen had been campaigning to shut the paper mills he said were poisoning his local rivers, after members of his family fell ill. When a local businessman, Jin Zengmin, posted pictures of a rubbish-filled river in Rui’an city on his microblog last week and offered officials 200,000 yuan (£24,000) to take a dip, Mr Chen followed his lead.

But soon after posting his own offer online, a group of men came to Mr Chen’s home, his daughter, Chen Xiufang, told The Independent.

“While Father was alone at home, at 6am on the 24th, around 40 men and women in plain clothes who were recruited by the government came to the house,” she alleged. “They came in and they started smashing everything.”

Ms Chen said her father suffered injuries to his head and feet and that he was now on a drip.

One-fifth of China’s rivers are so polluted that the water is too poisonous for human contact, while 40 per cent of all waterways are seriously polluted, according to information released by state media.

Public anger about the country’s polluted rivers is rising, and government sensitivity is increasing as local media start to publicise the problem.

China’s economic boom has been fuelled by factory output. There are stories every year about rivers and lakes throughout the country becoming blocked with algae blooms caused by fertiliser run-off, chemical spills and untreated sewage discharges.

Last month, nine tonnes of the chemical aniline, which is used to make polyurethane and smells like rotten fish, leaked into a river in northern China, contaminating the water supply of a neighbouring province.

In the five years to 2010, China spent 700 billion yuan (£74bn) on water infrastructure, but much of its water remains undrinkable.

Increasingly, the desperate state of China’s rivers is not only an issue for environmental activists. All over the country, entrepreneurs are pushing for a better clean-up of the rivers. Mr Jin’s offer came after he accused a shoe factory of dumping waste water into the river.

[Ask Jappleack]

China pretends they are so proud and honorable and top notch. They just have their noses high enough to not smell the s**t they are shoveling.

[Honey of the South]

We Are Organisms

China pretends they are so proud and honorable and top notch. They just have their noses high enough to not smell the s**t they are shoveling.

Dude, that s**t is being rubbed on their faces and they still don't smell it.

They should hang up the pride and acknowledge the fact that they are slowly turning their precious nation into the world's largest cesspool.

[Ask Jappleack]

Honey of the South

We Are Organisms

China pretends they are so proud and honorable and top notch. They just have their noses high enough to not smell the s**t they are shoveling.

Dude, that s**t is being rubbed on their faces and they still don't smell it.

They should hang up the pride and acknowledge the fact that they are slowly turning their precious nation into the world's largest cesspool.

Perhaps honor is so linked to pride that pride was seen culturally as a side effect of being honorable. So they all put on the facade until they ruin their lives, because its culturally accepted.

But whatever they only care about power, its why they are communist. As long as their water isn't poisoned they wont give a s**t if the rest of the populace's water is. But at that point they would rebel, and money wouldnt solve their problems anymore because money can't buy clean water for jack s**t anymore. Then other asian countries take the chance to attack china. Idk Im letting my imagination ramble on lol.

[Honey of the South]

We Are Organisms

Honey of the South

We Are Organisms

China pretends they are so proud and honorable and top notch. They just have their noses high enough to not smell the s**t they are shoveling.

Dude, that s**t is being rubbed on their faces and they still don't smell it.

They should hang up the pride and acknowledge the fact that they are slowly turning their precious nation into the world's largest cesspool.

Perhaps honor is so linked to pride that pride was seen culturally as a side effect of being honorable. So they all put on the facade until they ruin their lives, because its culturally accepted.

But whatever they only care about power, its why they are communist. As long as their water isn't poisoned they wont give a s**t if the rest of the populace's water is. But at that point they would rebel, and money wouldnt solve their problems anymore because money can't buy clean water for jack s**t anymore. Then other asian countries take the chance to attack china. Idk Im letting my imagination ramble on lol.

Well, you could actually be right on some accounts.

[Ask Jappleack]

Honey of the South

We Are Organisms

Honey of the South

We Are Organisms

China pretends they are so proud and honorable and top notch. They just have their noses high enough to not smell the s**t they are shoveling.

Dude, that s**t is being rubbed on their faces and they still don't smell it.

They should hang up the pride and acknowledge the fact that they are slowly turning their precious nation into the world's largest cesspool.

Perhaps honor is so linked to pride that pride was seen culturally as a side effect of being honorable. So they all put on the facade until they ruin their lives, because its culturally accepted.

But whatever they only care about power, its why they are communist. As long as their water isn't poisoned they wont give a s**t if the rest of the populace's water is. But at that point they would rebel, and money wouldnt solve their problems anymore because money can't buy clean water for jack s**t anymore. Then other asian countries take the chance to attack china. Idk Im letting my imagination ramble on lol.

Well, you could actually be right on some accounts.

Yeah I know. Itd be the never ending story though and since I dont know everything I would be more wrong at each progressive idea. But sometimes its good to daydream like that.

[David2074]

China has long seemed to be of the opinion that if you don't talk about a problem it doesn't exist.
But all across the globe their water pollution issues are infamous. They can only not talk about it for so long before too many people get tired of dying from drinking the water they have to drink to stay alive.