Reuters reported last year that China was struggling to deal with its increasing number of NIMBYs, people whose attitude to having useful but pollutive things built was: “Not In My Back Yard.”

This resistance to the “growth at all costs” model is likely to increase after record levels of air pollution were reported last week.

There’s now more evidence of the NIMBY phenomenon, as hundreds of local residents took to the streets over the weekend in Shenzhen’s Nanshan District to protest against the building of an LCD factory, Guangdong Satellite Television reports. LCD is short for liquid crystal display, a type of display used in digital watches and many portable computers.

The banners being carried by the protestors on Kehua Road near Keyuan Metro Station said things such as: “Resist toxic gas. Protect our garden.”

It is thought that most of the protestors were residents of Keyuan Gardens, The Nanfang Daily reports.

The surrounding area includes two kindergartens and Nanshan Foreign Languages School.

Bai Rupeng, a PhD candidate of Environmental Engineering at Singapore National University, said that LCD factories produce large amounts of waste gas and waste water.

The residents have complained to several government bodies but no decision has been reached.

The Happy Guangdong project, initiated under former Guangdong Party boss Wang Yang, aimed to move on from the single-minded pursuit of GDP growth that has been driving China’s economy for three decades. It appears that the local government is being tested to see exactly how serious it is about the project.