People living in large Chinese cities have become accustomed to pollution, but nothing could have really prepared people in Hangzhou, China when they were showered with black rain.

On Monday morning at around 8 o’clock, people living in the Xingnong residential neighborhood were surprised to find the rain was leaving behind a distinct black residue. Everything the rain touched turned black: cars, the ground, and even the face of a local resident unlucky enough to forget his umbrella. One elderly person complained that the laundry he had put outside had been ruined. Even once the rain stopped, residents said they could still see black-colored powder floating down from the sky.

While this definitely isn’t normal, there is apparently a sound explanation.

An investigation by the local environmental protection bureau discovered the source of the contamination as a local abandoned factory that was undergoing demolition. That morning, a work crew ruptured a tank when attempting to remove it, causing it to release raw petroleum powder into the air. According to the environmental protection bureau, the powder is not poisonous.

The post Black Rain (Literally) Falls on Stunned Residents in Hangzhou appeared first on The Nanfang.

Traces of N-nitrosodimethylamine, or NDMA for short, and related chemicals known as nitrosamines were found in samples taken from 155 sites in 23 provinces across China.

NDMA is a byproduct of the disinfection process used to chlorinate drinking water.

Chen Chao, an associate professor at Tsinghua University’s School of Environment, says that residents of the Yangtze River Delta area face higher than average cancer risks due to elevated levels of NDMA in the region’s treated water and tap water, which average 27 ng/L and 28.5 ng/L, respectively.

“Previous epidemiological studies have shown regional cases of cancer that share the presence of nitrosamines,” said Chen.

Additionally, the World Health Organization (WHO) has found NDMA and related nitrosamines to cause cancer in laboratory animals.

China has no regulations in its national drinking water standards for NDMA and other nitrosamines. By contrast, Canada mandates that its tap water must have a NDMA level below 40 ng/L, whereas the US states of California and Massachusetts have set a maximum tolerance of just 10 ng/L. The WHO recommends a limit of 100 ng/L.

Chen Wanqing, director of the National Central Cancer Registry, confirmed that nitrosamines play a role in causing cancer, but dismissed the idea that the levels in Chinese drinking water pose a threat to public health. “The trace found in the water cannot lead to cancer via drinking tap water,” he said. Chen noted that boiling tap water further reduces the risk of exposure to NDMA.

Another scientific study from last year found that one out of ten bottled drinking water samples from eastern China had a NDMA concentration of at least 4.8 ng/L.

Traces of NDMA is typically found in cured and smoked foods such as pickled vegetables and cured fish. A 1982 study found that 20 of 26 domestic Chinese beers were contaminated with NDMA.

In 2013, a Fudan University student was poisoned to death with NDMA by his roommate, a medical student who had written numerous papers on NDMA.

The post Taps in 44 Chinese Cities Spew Water with Cancer-Causing Agent appeared first on The Nanfang.

The Ministry of Environment Protection banned the use of x-ray scanners at the airport earlier this week, announcing that all “makers, sellers and users of x-ray body scanners should acquire official approval to ensure public safety.”

Further use of the scanners at Chinese security checkpoints are unlikely as the ministry also said that “large-scale use of radiation equipment among the public is prohibited.”

Public outcry over the use of x-ray scanners at the airport preceded the ban. Citizens have complained that the airport did not post any signs warning the public about potential health risks.

The West China Metropolis Daily reported Wednesday that x-ray scanners were still in use at the Chengdu East Railway Station. The paper noted that children, pregnant women and elderly passengers were warned by a notice not to go through the scanner, and were instead searched by a security guard.

The manufacturer of the scanner previously claimed its products were the result of joint efforts by scientists at China’s leading research institutes and experts from the Ministry of Public Security.

X-ray machines are commonly used at security checkpoints throughout China, but its use is restricted to checking items and luggage.

The post X-Ray Body Scanners Banned At Chengdu Airport appeared first on The Nanfang.

For a 20 meter stretch of road, drainage pipes three meters high are held in place with tape instead of bolts anchored into the cement buttress.

It’s not clear how long the pipes have been taped up, but it’s not the first time shoddy construction has been an issue. Flimsy construction of buildings and infrastructure projects in China are described using the term “tofu”, so-named for their similarity to the soy-based food known for its lack of structural integrity. The term came into prominence after the 2008 Sichuan earthquakes when local schools collapsed, killing scores of children.

But while the taped-up pipes under the Changchun overpass may be a quick fix to an old problem, shoddy building practices have been applied to new projects as well. After the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge was opened on the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2011, CCTV discovered the bridge was finished although there were numerous gaps in the guard rail that featured missing or unsecured bolts.

The next year a scandal broke out suggesting a number of Chinese buildings have been built with compromised cement, including the Ping’an Tower in Shenzhen.

At least 37 bridges have collapsed across China from 2007 to 2012, killing more than 180 people and injuring at least 177. As a result, the government spent 43.88 billion yuan ($7.05 billion) in 2013 to repair 21,600 “hazardous” bridges in the country.

The post Pipes Under a Chinese Overpass Found Secured in Place with Packing Tape appeared first on The Nanfang.

According to Caissa Touristic, the exclusive travel provider for the Rio Olympics in China, thousands of travel packages have been purchased in China already. As well, travel by Chinese to neighboring countries like Argentina and Chile have increased around the Olympic Games.

During the 2014 World Cup, some 5,000 Chinese tourists traveled to Brazil. That year, Brazil received 100,000 visitors from China.

Despite their growing numbers, Chinese do not currently have visa-free entry to Brazil. Unlike the citizens of the USA, Canada, Australia, and Japan, citizens from China are urged to apply for visas early in advance. On top of that, Brazil is a difficult destination for Chinese travelers due to long flights that tend to be on the expensive side.  Air travel between China and Brazil may take up to 30 hours and travel packages may cost between RMB 400,000 ($63,000) and 500,000.

Recent news about the Rio Olympics have focused upon threats and dangers to visitors. Problems have included health risks like the Zika virus, rampant crime, and unpaid police and doctors as part of a broken welfare system. Things are so bad that even Brazillian soccer great Rivaldo warned tourists to stay away from his country out of concern for their own safety. “Things are getting uglier here every day,” Rivaldo wrote. “I advise everyone with plans to visit Brazil for the Olympics in Rio — to stay home. You’ll be putting your life at risk here.”

However, Chinese tourist simply will not be deterred from reaching their destinations. Liu Xing, 28, last visited Brazil for the 2014 World Cup and thinks the country has gotten a bad rap from the news. “I think some of the reports are totally rumors,” he told the Global Times. “The major cities are very clean, and the sanitation services are good, only tourists going to the Amazon area should get inoculated against yellow fever.”

From his previous experience, Liu said there will be a considerable police presence that will keep tourists like him safe. “I have a hunch that this trip will be the most memorable one in my whole life,” he said.

The post Get Ready Rio, Massive Numbers of Chinese Are On Their Way for the Olympics appeared first on The Nanfang.

The Ministry of Water Resources posted the study on its website on Tuesday. The findings were based on 2,103 water samples taken this past January from flatland watersheds. Forty-seven percent of tested wells were found to be unfit for human consumption.

Air pollution has been widely viewed as the most prevalent type of pollution in China, mostly due to its presence in major Chinese cities. However soil and water pollution has also reached critical levels.

In 2014, the Ministry of Environmental Protection reported that nearly two-thirds of China’s underground water was rated as “unsuitable for direct human contact”. Of the 968 surface water sites analyzed by the Ministry, 37 percent were found to be unfit for human consumption. Underwater sources for water with sites classified as “poor” or “relatively poor” increased from 60 to 62 percent from 2013 to 2014.

Up to one-fifth of China’s soil is estimated to be contaminated by pollution.

The post 80% of China’s Underground Water Unsafe for Human Consumption appeared first on The Nanfang.

According to draft proposals for the next 13th five-year plan (2016-20), China will allocate 500 billion yuan ($78 billion) to build six to eight new nuclear power plants every year for the next five years, starting in 2016.

This development will culminate in 110 operational nuclear reactors by the year 2030, more than the United States has today. The claim was made by PowerChina, which has developed almost a third of all of China’s nuclear power plants. PowerChina said the proposal will “set the tone during the annual legislative and political advisory sessions in 2016.”

The renewed interest in developing nuclear power in China comes after an imposed moratorium that followed the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan. As China reviewed its safety guidelines, any and all new approvals on new nuclear plant proposals were frozen up until last year. Last March, the moratorium was lifted as two new nuclear plants were approved.

Safety concerns

However, critics have been vocal in their opposition to the breakneck speed of China’s nuclear energy development.

Physicist He Zuoxiu, 88, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences wants China to cease the expansion of its nuclear program in favor of first gaining the experience of how to safely operate them.

““China currently does not have enough experience to make sound judgments.”China currently does not have enough experience to make sound judgments on whether there could be accidents,” said He. “The number of reactors and the amount of time they have been operating safely both matter.”

He warned that plans to build nuclear reactors inland can have grave consequences, saying that an accident could contaminate rivers that hundreds of millions of people rely on for water and taint groundwater supplies to vast swathes of important farmlands.

Listing the main risks to nuclear power in China as “corruption, poor management abilities and decision-making capabilities,” He was dismissive of the country’s vast ambitions for its development. “They want to build 58 (gigawatts of nuclear generating capacity) by 2020 and eventually 120 to 200. This is insane,” said He. “Nuclear energy costs are cheap because we lower our standards,” he said.

Zhou Dadi, vice director of the China Energy Research Society, said China is in a “great position to develop its nuclear projects” and downplayed any doubts over safety issues. “Due to China’s mature nuclear technology and strict safety controls, serious accidents are unlikely to happen,” said Zhou.

Export technologies

As part of its nuclear energy ambitions, China hopes to export its nuclear energy technologies such as its pressurized-water nuclear technology known as Hualong One. However, the development of Chinese-made nuclear reactors has been met with criticism around the world.

The opposition in the British Parliament criticized a deal that will see China build nuclear power plants in the UK as compromising national security and condoning China’s human rights record. Meanwhile, China’s participation in building nuclear power plants in Pakistan has also been met with international opposition, in part due to China’s role in aiding Pakistan to become a nuclear power despite having signed treaties that forbid it.

The post China to Build 110 New Nuclear Power Plants Despite Concerns Over Safety appeared first on The Nanfang.

Six public pools in the city’s Shijingshan District were found to be in violation of the city’s safety standards. Three of the pools contained excessive amounts of urine, while the others had high levels of chlorine or bacteria.

Chinese national safety standards set the allowable amount of urine at 3.5 milligrams per liter of pool water. According to the Beijing News, one pool was found to contain 20 milligrams of urine per liter, far and above the limit.

A heat wave this summer has forced people throughout China to look for ways to escape the sweltering temperatures. While residents in Hangzhou took to loitering in the city’s air-conditioned subway stations to escape temperatures of 39 degrees, pools remain a popular choice in China.

Despite the incriminating evidence, it’s unlikely Chinese would confess to urinating in a pool. As seen from a recent Travelzoo poll, Chinese were the least likely out of six nationalities to admit to peeing in a pool, at 41 percent.

The post You’ve Been Warned: Beijing Pools are Filled with Urine appeared first on The Nanfang.

PX is a benzene-based chemical widely used in the manufacturing of plastic bottles and polyester clothing. Although not the most dangerous of China’s chemical factories, they are among the most hated by environmentally conscious Chinese.

Yet even as Chinese residents protest against constructing PX plants within city limits, other countries have placed them in close proximity to civilian areas. Perhaps the best example, is South Korea, a country that produces $1.5 billion worth of paraxylene each year, exporting 70 percent of it to China. The acceptance of the South Korean public with regard to PX plants begs the question: Why are they such a big deal in China? According to a recent Beijing News report, there are three main reasons why South Korean PX production plants are able to be immensely profitable without being the environmental pariahs that they are in China:

1) All information is made public from the beginning, and facilities are made available to civilian representatives for inspection.

Unlike China, a company that wants to build a paraxylene production plant in South Korea must meet a stringent Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to prove that their plant will observe safe operating procedures. If residents protest against the plant at any time, the company must immediately cease construction and accept government intervention.

2) There is strict supervision of PX production, within regulated guidelines.

The paraxylene facilities in Sanhsing, South Korea have not just accepted mandatory regulations; they have adopted safety standards as much as six times higher than those mandated by the government. And, in addition to providing safety training for its employees eight times a year, the PX plant even has its own onsite fire fighting team.

3) Foreign PX plants have developed reciprocal and beneficial relationships with the community.

SK, a South Korean energy conglomerate, donated a hundred billion Won in order to build a local park in Uslan, South Korea. To date, the park remains quite popular and attracts thousands of people each year.

While no one wants the pleasure of a chemical plant in their backyard, the Beijing News believes China could learn a lesson or two from South Korea’s approach to the unpopular chemical: “As a chemical plant can be shown to harmoniously co-exist with the city it is in, domestic companies may want to reference foreign PX plants.”

The post China’s PX Protests in Stark Contrast to South Korea appeared first on The Nanfang.

A temple fair in Henan turned chaotic yesterday as riders were thrown off an amusement ride that broke in half, injuring 19 people.

The incident happened at the Tonghe Temple in Changyuan County, Xinxiang at around 5:30pm. One rider sustained serious injuries from a leg fracture, while the other 18 have light injuries that are non-life threatening.

As seen in photographs, the mechanism of the “Outer Space Flying Saucer” ride somehow became separated from the chasis that is supposed to hold it in place. Riders are seen slumped in their seats, still held there by safety restraints.

The owner of the amusement ride has been arrested  by police, and the ride itself shut down.

The post Terrified Riders Thrown Off Henan Amusement Ride as it Breaks in Half appeared first on The Nanfang.