We’re all familiar with the rhetoric surrounding China’s booming economy: massive human rights violations, volatile working conditions, and undoubtedly the worst pollution epidemic in the world. Yet very few of us can actually visualize how costly China’s “by any means” industrial ambitions have become.
Souvid Datta, a UK-based photojournalist, spent several months documenting regions in China labeled “Cancer Villages” due to their fatally high levels of PM2.5. PM2.5 is an airborne particle that results from burning fuels such as coal or gas, and China’s industrial manufacturers release it into the atmosphere at a staggering rate.
In America, the EPA measures pollution in micrograms per cubic meter of air and considers 15 micrograms/day to be average. To contextualize China’s crisis consider this: Los Angeles averages about 30 micrograms/day as opposed to Beijing, whose total sometimes reaches 900/day.
The current tally of “cancer villages” stands at around 450, which is proving to be costly: following their first public acknowledgement of the issue in 2013, the federal government pledged $350 billion in aid for these villages. In addition to this monetary cost, there has been a significant toll on human life, evidenced by China’s annual rate of 3.5 million deaths directly caused by pollution.
Datta isn’t a revolutionary for doing what he did, but he is a visionary in terms of how he went about it. “China: The Human Price of Pollution” is unique, shocking, and beautifully heart-breaking all at once. Rather than hitting his audience over the head with images of billowing smokestacks, he chose to give the people being affected a more prominent role. In an interview with VICE, Datta explained his motivations for doing so:
“I focused on people because I think very few people my age particularly care about pollution. I think that’s because we’re bombarded with disaster imagery?babies wearing filter masks, apocalyptic smog, that sort of thing?and that distances us from the story.”
These are 10 photos from Datta’s “China: The Human Price of Pollution” that show China’s polluted landscapes and the people who call them home.
1. Man mourns the loss of his brother; a factory worker who died from lung cancer.
2. The Youngor textile factory which sits along the Fenghua River.
According to Datta, the factory routinely dumps toxic waste-water into the river.
3. A look inside the Youngor factory’s waste-water treatment plant.
The toxic waste is typically blue or purple after treatment.
4. A toxic discharge pipe downriver from the Youngor factory.
5. Children playing near a factory in Xingtai.
According to Datta, the town’s PM2.5 count regularly exceeds 800. It was named China’s most polluted city in 2013.
6. A man scavenges a corporate landfill in Tianjin.
The pipe behind him drains toxic waste into the landfill.
7. Beijing’s second-largest landfill which sits along ‘7th ring road’.
The nickname is a nod to the various landfills that form a circle around the entire city.
8. A man overlooking Shanghai’s financial district.
His view obstructed by a haze of polluted air.
9. A man navigates the ice-covered waters of Xingtai’s “Artificial Park.”
It is home to the town’s only green foliage. Just underneath the surface is thousands of pounds of trash dumped by local factories.
10. A toxic waste dump for the Shuogang steel factory.
The red pipe pumps waste water into this dried-up lake every morning. The green substance on the ground is extremely toxic waste that has accumulated over time.
If you’d like to see all 33 photos from Datta’s “China: The Human Price of Pollution” project, click here.
