THE BRUTAL REALITY OF LIFE IN CHINA’S MOST POLLUTED CITIES
The Youngor textiles factory compound in Ningbo shrouded in smog at dawn. Toxic waste-water used to be dumped midday into this section of the Fenghua River. SOUVID DATTA
The Shuogang group steel factory, Beijing. Despite the government promising to close all major polluting factories within city limits following the 2008 Olympics, several are still operating behind closed doors. At dawn every day the factory waste-water pipe illegally spews hazardous chemicals into a local dried up lake. The accumulated green and brown deposits contain poisonous heavy metal deposits, which are visible here. SOUVID DATTA
The fourth ring road of East Beijing, with a coal factory visible in the background. In the years following the Olympics and the explosion of urban air pollution concerns, the Chinese government had promised to close down all major polluting factories within the capital's limits. SOUVID DATTA
National City Planning Museum. A worker peers out from beneath the miniature scale model of Beijing's vast central districts, while developers have a discussion in the background. Beijing's population has risen from 11 million to over 20 million since 2000.SOUVID DATTA
Commuters between Xingtai and Beijing pass by the hundreds of factories that make Hebei province China's worst for air pollution.SOUVID DATTA
A lone security guard patrols the disused side of the Shuogang steel factory in East Beijing. SOUVID DATTA
Xingtai was China's most polluted city in 2013---a small industrial town in the south of Hebei province. Its only green space is the 'Artificial Park.' The ice covers the tons of garbage that has been dumped by local business owners. The lake is pumped by the same water supply that reaches thousands of poorer locals within city walls. SOUVID DATTA
On the outskirts of Xingtai, Zhang Wei mourns his brother who died from chromium poisoning. Wei’s brother was a former worker at the steel factory in the background. The small local village has seen over 30 cancer-related deaths in the past 15 years, making it one of several unacknowledged ‘Cancer Villages’ dotted around China. SOUVID DATTA
A view of Beijing's second largest illegal landfill site. A factory and modern high-rises are located only 1,600 feet away. Beijing's notorious 'seventh ring road' was described as a circle of landfill and garbage disposal sites encompassing the city. Following the Olympics, promises were made to clear up these sites. Several still exist, now cordoned off to public access or hidden within slum settlements. SOUVID DATTA
China has only started taking active steps towards dealing with its widespread national environmental problems in the last six years. Promises to cut down coal use, curb heavy-metal emissions, and restructure congested urban spaces have been made top-down from the government. While images of making the country 'green' are readily found near corporations, progress on a local level has been severely hindered by corruption and state prevarication. SOUVID DATTA
Several villagers along the Fenghua river in Ningbo have no choice but to use the polluted water for bathing and washing food and clothes. The nearby village of Rongjianqui has a population of just 600. In the last decade, 95 residents have been reported victims of cancer. SOUVID DATTA
The waste-water treatment plant inside Youngor textiles factory in Ningbo. Often the color is purple, dark brown or (as pictured here) deep blue after treatment. Official guidelines require the waste-water to be clear and diluted to 1/100 parts. SOUVID DATTA
A wastewater discharge pipe for the Youngor textiles factory in the Yinzhou district near Ningbo. A Greenpeace investigation into the company revealed severe negligence and malpractice. Youngor promised to improve its waste management, yet as of 2014 the discharge pipe has simply been moved further downstream, away from the factory, to an area out of sight from Yinzhou's settlements. The toxic waste-water is pumped out every morning between the quiet hours of three to five am. Just under two miles downstream, the same water is used for the local supply. SOUVID DATTA
A Chinese state video promotes the use of carbon-based fuels as the only feasible source for China's continued, rapid growth. Following the Olympics, political promises to drastically reduce air pollution were made with a 2020 deadline. To date, the major factories have simply been moved to less conspicuous locations and air pollution levels have severely worsened. SOUVID DATTA
In Xingtai, the PM2.5 count regularly exceeds 800 (3 times the UN's maximum 'extremely hazardous' limit), affecting local communities, and sending waves of air pollution down to Eastern coastal cities and Beijing. SOUVID DATTA
The Youngor textiles factory compound in Ningbo shrouded in smog at dawn. Toxic waste-water used to be dumped midday into this section of the Fenghua River. SOUVID DATTA
The Shuogang group steel factory, Beijing. Despite the government promising to close all major polluting factories within city limits following the 2008 Olympics, several are still operating behind closed doors. At dawn every day the factory waste-water pipe illegally spews hazardous chemicals into a local dried up lake. The accumulated green and brown deposits contain poisonous heavy metal deposits, which are visible here. SOUVID DATTA
IT’S ONE THING to read about air pollution contributing to more than one million deaths in China, or about how one-third of its rural residents lack access to clean water. But it doesn’t seem quite real until you see the people behind those statistics. Photographer Souvid Datta provides a glimpse of their lives in China: The Human Price of Pollution, revealing the people living in smog-choked cities and drawing water from grimy, polluted rivers.
Datta, who’s only 24, started the project partly for personal reasons. When he was 17, a Chinese friend died of lung cancer, a disease doctors said was exacerbated by the poor air quality in Beijing. The death hit Datta hard and sent him on a journey to help people understand the human cost of filthy air and water.
“Pollution is often an abstract or statistical issue, remote and unsexy for news readers and editors,” he says. “The work had to evoke a sense of genuine empathy and curiosity in readers, something that could nudge them towards productive awareness.”
The photographer found locations using resources like Chinese investigative journalist Deng Fei’s map of “Cancer Villages.” The map pinpoints towns, often adjacent to industrial areas, that have abnormally high cancer rates. Datta also scoured NGO reports that pointed him toward places like Fenghua River, which has been heavily and repeatedly polluted by nearby factories.
On the ground, Datta got to experience what it’s like living in China. When he was in Xingtai the PM2.5 count—a measure of fine particulate matter is in the air—topped 900. That’s akin to living inside one of those smoking rooms you see in airports.
“By the end of the day I was coughing up black sediment and severely wheezing,” he says. “If that’s what happened to me after one day, it’s horrific to imagine the lives of thousands of people who can’t afford masks.”
China has made some efforts to reduce pollution. According to government statistics, last year’s coal consumption was down 2.9 percent, for example. And an outside investigation found that China’s annual emissions of carbon dioxide were down 0.8 percent, the first time in more than a decade. Datta says he’s seen environmental concerns growing and being addressed through grassroots organizing and social media.
The project is ongoing and Datta plans to go back soon. He hopes to address the political side of pollution in China and also wants to use multimedia to dig deeper. He has plans to follow an activist and someone affected by pollution to tell their stories more in-depth. “I’m keen to get my audience involved in people’s stories,” he says. “In order to do that I’ll have to get closer too, both physically and emotionally.”
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