China: Inner-city toxics plant protested · Global Voices
John Kennedy

In November last year, construction began on a chemical plant in Haicang district, located on Xiamen island in the capital of Southwestern China's Fujian province, slated to produce the solvent toluene, terephthalic acid, benzene and, for example, an expected annual output of 800,000 tons of the toxic para-xylene which, according to its Wikipedia entry:
“…affects the brain. High levels from exposure for short periods (14 days or less) or long periods (more than 1 year) can cause headaches, lack of muscle coordination, dizziness, confusion, and changes in one's sense of balance. Exposure of people to high levels of xylene for short periods can also cause irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat; difficulty in breathing; problems with the lungs; delayed reaction time; memory difficulties; stomach discomfort; and possibly changes in the liver and kidneys. It can cause unconsciousness and even death at very high levels (see inhalants).”
The plant had originally been placed seven kilometers away from the city center and given a buffer zone, but due to continued expansion is now just 1.5 kilometers from the nearest residential zone, 4 kilometers from the nearest school and 7 kilometers from the downtown core, not to mention having been built within a state-protected natural zone home to rare marine species. The issue was raised at the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing this spring via a motion put forth by Chinese Academy of Engineering member Zhao Yufen, former president of the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics University Shen Shituan, as well professor in the Chemistry department at Xiamen University and Chinese Academy of Sciences member Tian Zhongqun, calling for the plant to cease operations and relocate. Following this, Zhu Xingxiang, Director-General of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), expressed his agreement with the proposal, but declared SEPA unable to take actions to implement it as the original project had been approved and invested in by the National Development and Reform Commission.
Nearly all the information above has come from a steady series of blog posts Southern Metropolis Daily columnist Lian Yue has written for his Lian Yue's Eight Continent blog beginning last month, from ‘Environmental protection officials who can't protect the environment,’ [zh] to ‘What are the people of Xiamen supposed to do!,’ [zh] in which he mentions that information regarding the plant is being surpressed, presumably in local media, with the post making the following suggestions:
1、首先，你不要怕，议论全国政协的头号提案不是罪，你不会被抓的。
2、如果你有BLOG，上论坛，请转载这篇新闻：《厦门百亿化工项目安危争议》；转载国内合法发行的报纸上的新闻也不是罪，你不会被抓的。
3、如果还是害怕，就在近期之内多跟你的朋友、家人、同事议论这件事——他们说不定全不知情。
4、如果你还是怕，那就告诉最好的朋友及家人。
5、如果你不怕，还应该告诉漳州、泉州的朋友，他们一样处于危险之中。
6、说清楚下面几句话就可以了：
7、这是105位全国政协委员反对的化工项目，他们中包括了最权威的专家。
8、PX项目至少应该离城市一百公里才安全。
9、厦门人至今被剥夺了PX项目的知情权，这反证了它是违反民意的。
10、它将使厦门经济倒退，物业贬值、游客减少；而且厦门人还将由此落下软弱与愚蠢的名声。
11、你得癌症的可能性大大提高了。
12、不需要你有太勇敢的举动，只要你让你身边的人都知道这件事以后，厦门之死你就没有责任了。
..and his recommendation [zh] of ‘Haicang, My Home‘, the Sina.com blog set up by residents of Haicang district last month, particularly the March 29 post copied back from a bbs forum, ‘The cries of residents of Xiamen city, Fujian province——please save our rights to live!‘ [zh]:
每次打电话到110以及12369环保投诉电话，得到的答案是他们马上派人去看工厂生产是否正常。还有人员解释说他们已经测试过这此企业，大部份达到国家排放标准，有部份企业微微超标，已有在整改。还说是企业就会污染，一点点是很正常的。可居民是没有任何污染数据的，甚至海沧区成立3年来连个空气监近控点也没有，厦门市每天都有预报空气质量，可唯一落下的就是海沧区。我们要的是新鲜空气啊。这种能让人从睡梦中呛醒的味道能说对人体无害吗？何况7月份福建省环保局联合厦门市环保局有对海沧进行三天的空气质量监测，结果是硫化氢及臭气浓度等多项指标都超过了国家标准。（报告在市、区环保局）
我们也做过努力，三年前就非常多的声音反映到市政府，在厦门各个论坛上抱怨，可换来的是当地政府为了厦门市的形象及海沧房地产的健康发展竟然和网站沟通，把所有关于厦门污染的贴子全隐藏了。隐藏后改善本来是极其妥善的办法，但几年过去了污染没有改善，反倒连本带利的愈加严重。人们群众的声音总是有限的。地方政府重GDP而轻环境保护是子孙们的悲哀啊！
我们用事实说话。请中央救救咱们吧、救救我们来之不易的劳动成果、能守着累了倦了可以靠它来栖身的家！
A search through Google Images for the words “Haicang” and “pollution” “could not be displayed” past the fourth page of a full set of results, which show nothing of the plant, the usual condition when Google is used to search for sensitive keywords, and a similar search using Chinese search engine Baidu brought back only two photos—one of which no longer exists, and the other, a map of downtown Xiamen—attached to what appears to have once been “a mass petition for the victims of air pollution in Haicang” (海沧受害者大签名—-空气污染). In this photo, Haicang is the large residential area in the upper-right and the factory in question is in the upper-left:
Similar is this image, posted at the Haicang residents’ blog along with the text and link to an undated submission, with a response, to the Fujian Environmental Protection Bureau complaints website: