From The Observer:
The walls of the village have recently been repainted with trees, waterfalls and the uplifting slogan: ‘I will contribute to the success of the Olympics and help establish a civilised new community.’
The people of Hou Wang Ge Zhung, however, have other matters on their mind. Sitting in front of his traditional brick house a few yards away, Kong Qingyu, 77, a farmer, spoke about his brother’s recent death from throat cancer. ‘Everything was OK until the factory came and then people started to die. You can’t see the pollution. But it is there. The factory pumps out waste after midnight.’
In a side street, Kong Xiang We, 57, described her husband’s illness – stomach cancer, according to doctors from Beijing University. ‘He’s getting weaker and weaker,’ she said. ‘In the past two months there have been two new cases.’
