Shangba

Shangba is a village of about 3,300 people administered by Xinjiang Town in Wengyuan County, Guangdong.[1][2][3] It is an agricultural village, with rice and sugar cane being major crops. In 2007 the village acquired the nickname China's "Village of Death" [4] due to the extremely high incidence of cancer in its population.

Shangba
上坝村
Village
Shangba is located in Guangdong
Shangba
Shangba
Location in Guangdong
Coordinates: 24°27′39″N 113°48′48″E
CountryPeople's Republic of China
ProvinceGuangdong
Prefecture-level cityShaoguan
CountyWengyuan
TownXinjiang
Shangba
Traditional Chinese上壩村
Simplified Chinese上坝村

In addition, the local river, the Hengshui River, known locally as "The Dead River", is Shangba's only water supply, and it has become so polluted that it is endangering the health of those living nearby.[5] One of the major pollutants in the river and well water is lead, which a provincial research institute reported as being present in the well water at some fifteen times what the national government set as a maximum acceptable rate for drinking water.[6]

The presumed source of the pollution is the Dabaoshan Mine for zinc, once Asia's largest mine for this mineral. The village's crops are also highly contaminated.[7][8]

In 2020 it was reported that over 1 billion Yuan was spent on soil remediation and improved mining processes, reducing the level of pollutants considerably.[9]

References
  1. 新江镇 [Xinjiang Town]. National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China. 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2014. (in Chinese)
  2. 2017年统计用区划代码和城乡划分代码：新江镇 [2017 Statistical Area Numbers and Rural-Urban Area Numbers: Xinjiang Town] (in Simplified Chinese). National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China. 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2018. 440229114204 220 上坝村委会
  3. 新江镇 [Xinjiang Town] (in Simplified Chinese). XZQH.org. 1 September 2014. Retrieved 25 July 2018. 【2011年代码及城乡分类】440229114:{...}～204 220上坝村{...}
  4. "China's 'cancer villages' pay price". BBC News. 17 January 2007. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  5. "CNN.com - Paging Dr. Gupta Blog". Cnn.com. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  6. Archived 27 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "Red river brings cancer, Chinese villagers say". Cnn.com. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  8. "CNN.com - Transcripts". Transcripts.cnn.com. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  9. "抓环保 大宝山重获新生-新华网". www.xinhuanet.com. Archived from the original on 4 April 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
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