In China, a Green Awakening

As Wuxi's economy grew, so did the pollution in Tai Lake, for centuries one of China's most picturesque lakes.

Yang Guoxin, 79, revered as one of China's first environmental activists, recalled that in the 1940s the water in the lake was so clear that he could see every detail of his toes when he waded in.

"There were many small lake creatures, like oysters and shrimp. Today, I can hardly see one," Yang said.

As early as the 1990s, Wu Lihong, 39, a former sales manager for a factory, warned officials that the city was headed toward ecological disaster if it didn't shut down polluting factories. His wife, Xu Jiehua, 39, said he was put in jail for saying such a thing.

"He offended the local government and some polluting companies by publicizing the problems," Xu said in a telephone interview. She said Wu, an activist supported by U.S. environmental and human rights groups, was called in to speak with government officials and told he was "creating a negative effect on the economy."

Police officials said Wu is serving a three-year sentence on a fraud and blackmail conviction unrelated to his environmental work.

By 2003, it was clear the lake was sick, and the government banned fishing there. Zhou Xiaoming, 42, a third-generation fisherman, now rents boats on Tai Lake. Because of the pollution, "people like us fisherman have lost our profession," Zhou said.

Wang Guoxiang, director of the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences at Nanjing Normal University in Jiangsu province, said government engineers tried every scientific alternative possible, spending more than $1.3 billion to try to save the lake. They dug up the silt and replaced it. They poured fresh water into the lake and redirected rivers to try to wash the pollution away. They even seeded clouds to create rain to dilute the polluted water.

But it took a crisis to force the government to start closing companies.

In late May, the algae in the lake grew so fast that taps all over the city spewed dirty water. While most algae are harmless, the chemical runoff from factories had fattened the algae in Tai Lake into a toxic muck poisonous to humans and aquatic life. According to residents interviewed later, consumers panicked, and the price of large bottles of water jumped from $1 a bottle to $6. People couldn't clean dishes, couldn't wash their clothes, couldn't shower.

Gong Pin, deputy director of the Wuxi Economic and Trade Commission, said that the first stage of the factory closings targeted small chemical companies but was only the beginning. "Our aim is to call attention and supervision from the society," Gong said.

The government also will require companies to move from populated urban areas to special industrial zones at their own expense, he said.

Wuxi's environmental campaign has been held up as an example of how cities should deal with polluters. But the publicity has not had its desired affect. Instead of shunning the polluting companies in Wuxi, delegations from other parts of China have been coming to Wuxi to invite them to come to their cities.

"This is impossible to understand," said Wang of Nanjing Normal University. "We keep telling them they are just moving pollution around and it isn't good for them, good for China."

Researcher Wu Meng contributed to this report.