Danwei translates reports about citizens of a recently-developed suburb of Beijing who are displeased with the stench coming from a nearby garbage dump. The district government recently apologized for the smell:
According to The Beijing News, local villagers receive a 400 yuan per year per capita subsidy from the government for the stench that they have to suffer. But many villagers would rather have the landfill site moved somewhere else. The newspaper quoted a villager saying that the incidence of serious diseases has risen in recent years and suspected that it might has to do with the smell. Zou Xiaomei, a delegate to the city’s People’s Congress, has brought up the issue every year only to find things getting worse and worse.
The government’s apology came after a protest on August 30. The protest took the form of a “stroll,” a technique that has been carried out by the environmentally-aware, new middle class, who organize and coordinate their activity via SMS and the Internet. Last year saw strolls put into practice in Xiamen, Shanghai, and Chengdu.
