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In China, Water You Wouldn’t Dare Swim In, Let Alone Drink (Time World Blog)
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- Lei Feng Movie Debuts in Nanjing, Zero Tickets Sold (chinasmack.com)
In China, Water You Wouldn’t Dare Swim In, Let Alone Drink (Time World Blog)By Gu Yongqiang / Beijing March 06, 2013 http://world.time.com/2013/03/06/in-china-water-you-wouldnt-dare-swim-in-let-alone-drink/ Jin Zengmin was in a betting mood. Last month, the eyeglass entrepreneur from eastern China’s Zhejiang province announced that he would offer a $32,000 reward to the chief of the local environmental protection department if he dared to swim in a nearby river for a mere 20 minutes. Jin’s wager, which was announced on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like social media service in China, turned viral on the Internet. The environmental cadre, unsurprisingly, declined to swim in the polluted water. After more than three decades of economic prosperity, China faces serious environmental challenges that are sure to be discussed during the National People’s Congress, the annual conclave currently underway in Beijing. Air pollution blankets hundreds of cities and the soil in vast parts of the country is contaminated. Thousands of rivers, too, have been ruined by China’s rapid urbanization and industrialization, such as the waterway in Jin’s hometown, Rui’an, a small city near Shanghai that is home to more than 100 shoe factories. “When I was a child, people swam or washed vegetables in the river,” Jin told TIME. “But those factories use chemical raw materials to make shoes and dump their industrial waste directly into the river.” In photographs posted by Jin on Sina Weibo, the river surface is covered by floating rubbish. What lies beneath could be even more dangerous. The smell, Jin alleges, is putrid. On Dec 8, Jin’s sister died of lung cancer at the age of 35. He blames water pollution for her death. “When my sister received medical treatment in big cancer hospitals in Shanghai,” Jin says, “we found that many patients there are from my hometown. They have various cancers, and what is astonishing is that most of the cancer patients are in their 30s to 50s. They are still young. I realized these cancers may have something to do with the water pollution in our hometown.” After Jin’s sister died, he called the local environmental protection department and asked them to check for water contamination in the river. Jin says he was told by officials that the river was fouled by some household garbage but that the water still met national quality standards. Outraged, Jin took his bet online. Soon, a local newspaper conducted a crude experiment to test the river’s toxicity: they placed a live fish into water fetched from the river. Two hours later, the fish died. “I made my bet because I’m confident the water in the river is poisonous,” Jin says. In January, air pollution was one of the hottest topics on Weibo, one of the few public places where Chinese can express their grievances. Faced with citizen outrage, the Beijing government unveiled anti-pollution measures to try to combat the record smog. February turned into water pollution month. After Jin’s wager became an Internet sensation, Deng Fei, a Chinese environmental activist, encouraged Weibo users to post pictures of polluted rivers in their hometowns. Thousands of people responded with photographs of fetid local waterways. Local environmentalists say that China has enough money and technological prowess to clean up its rivers. The missing ingredient for an environmental campaign? Official motivation. Local governments depend on polluting factories to buoy local economies; local bureaucrats know their promotions are contingent on keeping growth rates high. Still, Chinese citizens are no longer sated simply by economic advancement and have taken to Weibo to express their dissatisfaction. “The appeals made by Jin Zengmin and other Weibo users forces people to face up to water pollution and have attracted more people to join the anti-pollution campaign,” says Ma Jun, a water expert and founder of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs. “[Internet activism] can prevent local governments from standing in line with the heavy polluters.” Meanwhile, the price ofChina’s economic success continues to soar. Most of the country’s groundwater is tainted. Smog envelops the eastern seaboard. Soil pollution is pandemic,although just how bad it is few know because the exact figure has been deemed a “state secret.” Environmental whistle-blowers have been beaten and jailed. Many of the protests that have proliferated nationwide in recent years are related to environmental issues. Last June, hundreds of angry villagers from Deyang city in western China’s Sichuan province held a protest march after their crops were destroyed by what they said was industrial waste. The villagers were so angry that they occupied the local government office and clashed with the police. On Dec 31, a broken pipe at a chemical factory in central China’s Shanxi province caused a leak of 38.7 tons of aniline, which is used to make industrial chemicals and is toxic to human beings. The aniline spilled into a river that serves as a source of drinking water for more than 1 million people in north China. Yet the local government hid information about the chemical leak for five days. Public outrage ensued, just as it has across the country after countless other environmental nightmares. Asks Jin: “If we Chinese die of cancer caused by pollution, what’s the meaning of economic growth for us?” Lei Feng Movie Debuts in Nanjing, Zero Tickets Sold (chinasmack.com)by Peter Barefoot on Thursday, March 7, 2013 http://www.chinasmack.com/2013/stories/young-lei-feng-movie-debuts-in-nanjing-zero-tickets-sold.html From Sina Weibo: @财经网: Lei Feng Themed Movie Released in Nanjing, Four Showings Without A Single Ticket Sold: Yesterday [March 5] was “Learn from Lei Feng Day”, and a biographical movie named Young Lei Feng giving an account of Lei Feng’s life from when he graduated elementary school to the day he sacrificed his life debuted in Nanjing, resulting with an embarrassing “zero box office” situation where not a single person bought a ticket. An employee of the movie theater said, “We too are very surprised. Normally, a movie, no matter what it is, will still manage to sell at least some tickets.” (Yangtse Evening Post) (See Image) Young Leifeng Trailer: (See Image) Comments from Sina Weibo: yourswang巨蟹座: Nanjing, well done! 林一Demos: A bunch of assholes wasting tax-payers’ money. helloshenzhen: Better an ugly truth than a false beauty [success]. 寂寞台灯: Surprising? Couldn’t be more normal. Who would spend money watching this kind of SB movie? 宇烈王: Embarrassing, Lei Feng was my childhood idol. 南辕北辙001: It is also a record-breaking box-office result! So rare, have you applied for a Guinness World Record?! 一岩su: I’d rather die than to watch Lei Feng or Jiao Yulu movies. I’d rather die than to watch Anti-Japanese War serials. 七月天2010: Super positive energy! I’m going to watch it! 律妹妹: A small thing, [but I] feel China can still be saved! 浮云上一灰机: Why spend money to go watch a false idol’s so-called deeds? 写不出字的小地蛋: They can force middle school and elementary school students to go watch it, and then write about their impressions. 郁延: Yesterday, Changchun’s news reported that some volunteers organized to go watch it! And those volunteers were college students. I changed the channel right away! 爱吃鱼的郑嘉沐: Lei Feng is just a spokesman of a certain Party. His story is one primary school students can write from memory, so would anyone really want to buy a movie ticket to watch him wash the socks and fold the blankets for his teammates? 官员财产何时公开: You all learn from He Shen, but you ask the common people to learn from Lei Feng! Suggest the government organize the officials, official second generations, rich second generations, real estate tycoons, NPC and CPPCC members to go watch it. Spring佘迎春: Can’t blame us, the plot distorts humanity, is disconnected with reality, and contains no entertainment value. If it were not for fulfilling a task [being required to go watch the movie], I reckon no one would spend 80 RMB for Lei Feng. 尘咏踪: A brainwashing blockbuster… 尘语尘风: Some people die, but they never really lived… 黑黑老: Organize wu mao to go watch it, and those who don’t will have 5 mao [0.5 RMB] deducted. super眞: Because everybody knows, [a movie] that uses Lei Feng’s name is definitely going to suck! 马骝zcl: There’s nothing to be surprised about. When China makes a movie like this, it’ll definitely going to be one that sings praises of the Party, without any meaning/substance at all. Look at those Americans’ Lincoln and how different it is. 北极熊归来2011: Xinwen Liaobo and this Lei Feng movie, which one’s better to watch? 甜1雨: I think the goal of “Learn from Lei Feng” is to encourage people to do good things! The original intention is good! Educational material that’s aimed towards good/positive notions should be respected! We can combine it with reality and absorb good ideas/ideology. This society is in dire need of positive things, even if it’s brain-washing, as long as it [teaches people to] think of others instead of hurting them. 狐狸-_-未成精: Reminds me of those photos of Lei Feng posing on my textbooks as a child, a pile of stuff about learning this idea and that represents that I simply could never figure out, simply a waste of my youth. Not until now do I understand why Hong Kong people resist these things. I just want to say: FUCK the spirits, FUCK the ideology, FUCK the represents, damn it, fuck off!!! 哈哈小记: Since it’s propagating Lei Feng spirit, why not show it for free? Who would spend money to learn to do good things? 是丫非: Comrade Lei Feng reminds me of the story of the little North Korean girl who drowned protecting a portrait of Kim Jong-il… Directory: 2013 2013 -> Annual InStructional unit plan 2013 -> The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine 2013 -> #1 a lifesafer of virginia inc 2013 -> Name(s): your name here team or Group #(if applicable): Professor’s name 2013 -> Alcott Local School Council (lcs) Meeting Minutes 2013 -> Table Of Contents introduction 2 2013 -> Supplemental demographic information 2013 -> 【Education&Working Experience】 Download 438.17 Kb. Share with your friends:
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