People's Protest Shuts Down the Dangerous Chemical Plant in Dalian, China

The city's officials have announced the immediate shut down of the plant, an unusually quick response to the protesters that swelled to 12,000 on August 14 over environmental concerns.



It started when the tropical storm caused the seawalls to break, 50 meters from the plant, on August 8. The residents were evacuated for the fear of toxic spills, which didn't happen. But the residents were furious that they didn't know such a dangerous plant was right nearby, and started to demand that the plant be stopped and relocated from the city.



From Wall Street Journal (8/15/2011):

SHANGHAI—The Dalian city government agreed to shutter a chemical plant in an unusual display of responsiveness, bowing to environmental protests that brought thousands of residents onto the streets of the northeastern Chinese port city.



The decision to close the plant was announced just hours after Dalian's Communist Party Secretary Tang Jun, standing atop a police van, tried and failed to disperse a crowd authorities estimated at 12,000 with a pledge to relocate the plant at a future date.



"Time!" "Time!" "Tell us when!" members of the crowd shouted back at Mr. Tang, drowning him out.



...The protests against it weren't a direct challenge to the local government policies, beyond the plant. Rather, there was widespread anxiety among the local community—possibly shared by local officials—that the seaside factory represented a potential environmental calamity.



...Security was heavy on Dalian streets on Sunday. State media reported that police in riot gear scuffled with the placard-carrying crowd. However, the demonstrations were largely peaceful and the crowds greeted the concession to close the plant with enthusiasm.



"This is such good news," said one demonstrator, 28-year-old Ken Zhang, who said he began days ago preparing T-shirts and banners. "I can't just let this toxic project harm the health of myself, my family and all my friends."



Environmental concerns are a growing rallying point for China's generation of new homeowners and parents. Centered on China's richest urban areas, the nascent "not-in-my-backyard" movement has featured a number of peaceful walks by young professionals—many of them carrying Chinese flags—that are sometimes tolerated by authorities, themselves eager to support green causes.



...When the deadly tropical storm Muifa missed Shanghai last weekend and bounced up the Chinese coast, Dalian residents feared its arrival would collapse sea walls and swamp the plant. In postings on microblogs, residents discussed parallels with Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which was hobbled by a tsunami and unaided by sea walls after the country's earthquake in March.

(Full article at the link above.)



I hope they will very soon wake up to the danger of nuclear power plants that their Communist government is pushing very hard, despite the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident. I suspect the Chinese pride themselves in outdoing the Japanese, but there will be no glory in outdoing the Japanese in a nuclear disaster.

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2 Days After the Accident, Chinese Authorities Already Buried Derailed Bullet Train Cars

Chinese beat Japanese in burying the evidence. But then, at least they are not radioactive.

In case you are not aware, the Chinese version of "Shinkansen" (bullet train) collided on July 23, 4 train cars fell off the bridge and killed at least 43, injuring at least 192.

Either they were so quick in determining the cause or they didn't want to know the cause, the Chinese authorities have already buried the derailed train cars. They dug a huge hole (15 meters wide, 5 meters deep) and bury them, according to Yomiuri Shinbun (7/25/2011).

The local residents told Yomiuri that the front car was smashed into pieces and buried. The authorities have also been busy deleting any message on the Internet critical of the government's handling of the accident.

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#Radiation in Japan: Chinese Tourists Are Back, Because They WANT Radiation

On a lighter note, Chinese tourists are back in Japan, particularly young couples, according to an article that appeared in Shukan Post, a Japanese weekly magazine. Chinese were among the first to depart en masse from Japan after the earthquake/tsunami/nuke plant disaster, and they avoided Japan altogether in April.

Why are they back now? Because they WANT to get exposed to radiation. Why? Because they believe that would get them a baby boy. It's got to be another "baseless rumor"; high-IQ and rich Chinese wouldn't do such a silly thing as trying to be intentionally exposed to artificial radiation hoping that would get them a boy, would they?

From Shukan Post article (July 22/29 issue) as appeared in Iza:

若い中国人カップルの間で「訪日ツアー」がブームだそうだ。

We hear that tours to Japan are becoming very popular among young Chinese couples.

震災直後、中国政府の帰国勧告を受けて各地の空港が中国人の帰国ラッシュで大混雑したことは記憶に新しい。そんな放射能パニックに陥った中国人が戻ってきたのかと思えば、どうも歓迎できない動機がありそうである。

We still remember the local airports crowded with Chinese citizens returning home upon the recommendation from their government. Why would the Chinese, who fled in a radiation panic, come back? There seems to be a reason behind it which we cannot totally be happy about.

「被曝によって男児が生まれる確率が高まる、というドイツの研究が中国紙で報じられたからです」（中国在住の日本人ジャーナリスト）

"It's because a German study was reported in a Chinese paper that radiation exposure increase the chance of conceiving a baby boy", says a China-based Japanese journalist.

『北京晩報』は6月8日付で、〈放射線で男の赤ちゃんが増える〉と題した記事を掲載。核実験が頻繁に行なわれた1960～1970年代にかけての欧州・米国や、チェルノブイリ原発事故の2年後のベラルーシ、ドイツとスイスの原発周辺の地域でも男児の出生比率が高くなったという怪しげな研究発表を報じたのである。

On June 8, Beijing Evening News carried the article titled "Radiation increases male babies". The article cited a dubious study that the ratio of male babies increased in Europe and the US during 1960s and 1970s when nuclear testing was done frequently, in Beralus 2 years after the Chernobyl accident, and in Germany and Switzerland in areas near nuclear power plants.

中国のネットユーザーは記事に即反応。中国版ツイッター『微博』には〈男の子を授かりたいなら日本に行け〉〈すぐに日本行きの航空券を買いに行く〉〈旅行会社は男子懐妊ツアーを組んでくれ〉などの書き込みが相次ぎ、ついには〈訪日旅行を盛り上げるために小日本が考えたデマじゃないか？〉という陰謀論まで登場した。

Net-savvy Chinese immediately responded to the article. The Chinese version of Twitter [I suppose it has nothing to do with Twitter but a Twitter-like service in China] was flooded with messages like "If you want a boy, go to Japan", "I'm going to buy a airline ticket to Japan right now", "Travel agencies should arrange "Boy Conception Tours"." And conspiracy theories like "It must be the false information concocted by "small" Japanese to revive the tourism from China."

瀋陽の日本総領事館に問い合わせると、4月にはゼロだった訪日ビザの発給数は、5月に23人、6月に1900人と大幅に増えている。

We inquired the Japanese Consul in Shenyang. There was no issuance of visitor's visa to Japan, and only 23 in May. But in June the number exploded to 1,900.

中国人団体を取り扱う日本の旅行会社の添乗員が苦笑交じりに語る。「九州の阿蘇山を案内した時、新婚の中国人カップルから、“放射線量はどのくらいか”と尋ねられました。“何も心配いりませんよ”というと、男の赤ちゃんが欲しかったそうで肩を落としていました」

A tour guide at a Japanese travel agency that cater to group tours from China says with a wry smile, "When I guided the Mount Aso in Kyushu, a newly wed Chinese couple asked me, 'How high is the radiation level?" When I told them there was nothing to worry about there, they were very disappointed. They said they wanted to have a baby boy."

This particular couple probably didn't bother to look at the map of "small Japan". The island of Kyushu is as far away as you can get from Fukushima I Nuke Plant. They should be enjoying the hot spring resort near the plant with the "Genpatsu Gypsy" workers (read the Guardian report).

The Japanese version of the same "baseless rumor" about radiation and conception is that if you work in a nuclear power plant you are more likely to get a baby girl, not boy. Maybe it's different with Chinese.

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Hot air balloon catches fire - four Dutch dead

Four Dutch tourists have been killed in a ballooning accident near the city of Yangshuo in South China. A fifth Dutch sightseer, the Chinese pilot and his assistant escaped with minor injuries.

Radio Netherlands Worldwide interviewed Ronald van der Weerd, a Dutchman who works in a local hotel. He has spoken to the Dutch survivor of the accident and has read the statement he made to the police.
Balloon trips are a popular tourist activity in the Guangxi region. Newsline’s Johan van Slooten spoke to Paulien Leisink, Dutch owner of the Giggling Tree hostel in the region. She says this is the first time there has been a serious accident like this. In the past, a few tourists have suffered minor injuries due to rough landings, but she says this is not unusual in the sport of hot air ballooning.

Hotel worker Ronald van der Weerd also confirms that in the eight years he has been going to the area he has never heard of a serious accident. “I always feel safe in the balloons,” he adds.

However, Paulien Leisink says that following the fatal accident, all the local balloon tour operators have cancelled their trips. She expects their trade will be badly affected. “I don’t know if they will ever be allowed to go up into the air.”

Listen to the Newsline interview:

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Mr Van der Weerd reports that a group of tourists had gone on a sight-seeing trip in three hot air balloons. The balloon involved in the accident was making a normal, controlled landing on a small hill.

“Then things went slightly wrong,” says Mr Van der Weerd. “The basket fell over, which in itself is not very unusual, but somehow or other the burner didn’t go out and something caught fire. The pilot caught fire, and fell out of the balloon along with the assistant and one of the passengers.” As a result, the lightened balloon flew up in the air again
Fire
What exactly followed remains unclear, says Mr Van der Weerd. Eyewitnesses at a distance say the basket caught fire - contrary to earlier police reports, the witnesses say there was no explosion. The remaining four passengers jumped out of the basket. None of them survived the fall. The three who fell out of the balloon on the ground escaped with only scratches or minor burns.

The group on the balloon trip were on a holiday organised by travel company Djoser. The identities of the four people who died - two couples in their fifties - have not yet been released.

The accident took place close to a city popular with tourists, Yangshuo in the region of Guangxi. The area is renowned for its spectacular landscape, and attracts many backpackers. There are daily sightseeing balloon trips for tourists, and in fine weather dozens of balloons take to the air.

The Dutch embassy has sent a team from a nearby consulate to Yangshuo. They will provide assistance to the Dutch survivors and bereaved relatives.

SOURCE : RNW

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