Tuesday, September 05, 2006
NGOs in China: Helping Those Devoured by the Dragon - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News: "Helping Those Devoured by the Dragon
By Andreas Lorenz
They represent workers without rights, autistic children and the environment. The Communist Party eyes them suspiciously, but allows them to exist -- so long as they make no political demands. China's nascent non-governmental organizations are beginning to help those left behind by the country's economic boom.
Death wafts from the White River, which no longer has anything in common with its name. The surface is covered with brown scum, black streaks coat the sand, and fish long ago died out. But the toxic river is also contaminating the ground water along its banks.
When women in the village of Zhaiwan boil water from the White River, the acid eats through their metal cooking pots. Of the village's estimated 3,000 inhabitants, 125 have died of cancer in the last five years. 'They were all young people, none of them older than 45,' says Zhai Jinghan, the mayor.
Workers are drilling a new well on the outskirts of Zhaiwan, at a good distance from the river. 'We're now at a depth of 120 meters (394 feet),' says the mayor, a stocky man with bristly hair. 'The water was still undrinkable at 80 meters.'"
By Andreas Lorenz
They represent workers without rights, autistic children and the environment. The Communist Party eyes them suspiciously, but allows them to exist -- so long as they make no political demands. China's nascent non-governmental organizations are beginning to help those left behind by the country's economic boom.
Death wafts from the White River, which no longer has anything in common with its name. The surface is covered with brown scum, black streaks coat the sand, and fish long ago died out. But the toxic river is also contaminating the ground water along its banks.
When women in the village of Zhaiwan boil water from the White River, the acid eats through their metal cooking pots. Of the village's estimated 3,000 inhabitants, 125 have died of cancer in the last five years. 'They were all young people, none of them older than 45,' says Zhai Jinghan, the mayor.
Workers are drilling a new well on the outskirts of Zhaiwan, at a good distance from the river. 'We're now at a depth of 120 meters (394 feet),' says the mayor, a stocky man with bristly hair. 'The water was still undrinkable at 80 meters.'"
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