In Xiamen, on the southeastern coast of China, a petrochemical corporation has been constructing a $1.4 million factory to produce p-Xylene, a highly toxic petrochemical used to make polyester for fiber and plastic packaging. Public concern in the city over the health risks posed by the factory's presence has been stirring dissent for some time, but opponents face the powerful joint force of a corporation and the government.
Then several weeks ago, someone sent a text message. It said:
Once this extremely poisonous chemical is produced, it means an atomic bomb will have been placed in Xiamen. The people of Xiamen will have to live with leukemia and deformed babies. We want our lives and health!
As the LA Times affirms, "cellphones present a new challenge to the [Chinese] government, because all but the poorest people in China own one and text messaging is ubiquitous — used far more often, and by a wider span of ages, than in the U.S., where it tends to be a tool of the young."
Spreading like a virus, the message was repeated more than 1 million times, environmentalists said, until it had reached practically everyone in Xiamen, a city of 1.5 million people...known for its clean air and scenic views. It also spread beyond cellphones, splashed on walls in the form of graffiti and posted on blogs and other websites throughout China.
A few days later, the municipal government halted construction of the chemical plant, and is apparently evaluating whether or not to resume building.
It's well known that the government tries to stringently regulate and limit communications in China, particularly citizen media platforms, so unsurprisingly, by the next day most Web-based information about the event had been removed. But there was nothing that could be done about the communication that instantiated the event, and try as they may, it's a very difficult communication channel to control. The combination of rising environmental concern and increasingly ubiquitous technological tools means that citizens have far more power -- and feel far more empowered -- to demand conditions that promote their wellbeing and protect their surroundings.
