Cao Yungen from Sanjiang village is 62 years old and was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009. The nearby East China Sea is reported as being polluted with persistent toxic chemicals, the major source of which is industrial discharge. The situation...

Qiaoliang never saw his son. How did someone so young get cancer? About 15km upstream from their village is a cluster of factories making paper and chemicals...

But the tumour in his throat came back and by May Qiaoliang was dead. Here his wife weeps as she burns his clothes.

Qiaoliang was optimistic. He felt cured after surgery and he and his wife started looking forward to the birth of their new baby. Qiaoliang loved to put his ear on his wife’s belly and listen to his unborn child.

Qiaoliang was optimistic. He felt cured after surgery and he and his wife started looking forward to the birth of their new baby. Qiaoliang loved to put his ear on his wife’s belly and listen to his unborn child.

The reality of water pollution in China sometimes ends in tragedy. Here is a love story in Henan that was likely cut short by the contamination from paper and chemical factories upstream. In January 2008, two young love-struck villagers, Zhang...