Page 157 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Chapter 6. The Xiamen PX plant event

campuses and 6 kilometres from the city centre, and had around 100,000 people living

within a 5 kilometres radius (Li, Liu and Li, 2012). There was also disagreement over
the level of toxicity of PX (She and Lin, 2016).
Although PX plants in other countries had seen no major safety accidents, a PX
plant in Zhangzhou City suffered two explosions in 2013 and in 2015 which refocused
public attention. It is noteworthy that the PX plant in Zhangzhou City was the one orig-

inally belonged to the Xiamen PX plant. The detailed situation of the relocation will be
discussed later. This was also reflected in the questionnaire data I collected: 53.33% of
respondents believed that PX is a highly toxic chemical that can be transmitted through

water or air; 26.67% thought it highly toxic but that it cannot affect human health as
long as direct contact was avoided; 18.10% believed it to be of low toxicity; and only
1.90% thought it safe and of zero toxicity. This again shows the lack of accurate infor-
mation and the variety in the perception of PX among general public.
The plant was scheduled to begin production in the summer of 2007. Professor

Zhao Yufen, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CP-
PCC), submitted a petition with 105 CPPCC members’ signatures which called for the
suspension and relocation of the plant, arguing that a PX plant located in a populous

area would increase the risk of cancer and birth defects if a leak or explosion were to
occur. Neither the relevant departments at the national level nor the Xiamen local gov-
ernment approved her petition; on the contrary, the construction of the plant was accel-
erated (Li, Liu and Li, 2012).
On 11 March, Southern Metropolis Daily became the first newspaper to cover

Zhao’s petition. In a 5-page story that also ran on the popular Web portal Sohu.com,
the newspaper quoted Zhao and criticized development projects undertaken by local
officials in China without due consideration for the citizens. The article provided key

information on the Xiamen project, including the number of residents living in the im-
mediate vicinity, and it also reviewed past industrial accidents in China. Within a week,
three newspapers (China Chemical Industry News, China Youth Daily, and China Busi-
ness) ran news features on the project that emphasized the issues raised by the CPPCC
delegates.

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