ABSTRACT
In October 2012, protests in China’s southeastern city of Ningbo, Zhejiang province erupted, born of environmental concerns and involving thousands of people. The opposition to the local government’s decision to build a paraxylene facility (PX project) at a petrochemical plant, to be operated by a subsidiary of state-run oil giant Sinopec, reached its climax on October 26 and 27, when riot police used tear gas and fire hoses against protesters, much of which was documented by smartphone-wielding demonstrators. The Ningbo government later announced a halt to the plan. Ningbo thus follows in the footsteps of Xiamen, Chengdu, Dalian and Shifang, where protests by residents have in recent years resulted in the cancellation of similar plans to build polluting plants.
