China's 'Ruhr' Demolishes Polluting Industrial Chimneys

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, June 05, 2002

China's 'Ruhr' Demolishes Polluting Industrial Chimneys

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Black dense smoke rising from towering chimneys became a thing of the past on Wednesday in the capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province when the last of the 1,000 industrial chimneys due to be demolished this year was blown up.

Built in 1985, the 51 meter chimney belonged to the Shenyang Filature, formerly located in the central part of Shenyang and hadbeen used for industrial production.

For environmental and economic reasons, the Shenyang Filature was moved out of the urban area to the suburbs in 1997. The original site of the filature will be used for planting trees and grass as well as other purposes, according to a city plan.

Known as the "oriental Ruhr" (a German industrial area), Shenyang boasts a booming and prosperous past. Numerous large and medium sized state-owned enterprises were established in the city in the first few years after the founding of new China in 1949. Black smoke billowing from high chimneys in the city used to be a symbol of the industrial development of new China.

However, in time some of the chimneys lay idle following factory closures and those remaining became synonymous with environmental pollution.

The city government decided to demolish 1,000 chimneys and 400 coal-burning boilers this year.

Demolition of the last chimney still attracted many onlookers although the scene was not as grand and spectacular as when the chimneys were built decades ago.

Zhao Chunxiang, 71, a retired veteran worker of the former Shenyang Electric Fan Factory, arrived at the site early Wednesdaymorning.

"When I was young I usually felt sad and disheartened when no smoke was coming out of chimney because I thought there was a production problem," said Zhao. "But now, I think it is better to get rid of the chimneys," said Zhao who is moved by great changes taking place in the city.

Costing more than 200 million yuan (24.09 million U.S. dollars),demolition of the chimneys, which began on April 6 this year, has been completed four months ahead of schedule.

The former Shenyang Metallurgical Plant, one of the biggest of its kind in Asia, used to boast 28 chimneys, three being 100 meters high. The plant produced nearly 50 percent of the city's atmospheric sulphur dioxide and discharged 98 percent of the lead in the air. The plant went bankrupt in 2000 due to heavy economic losses. Now, most of its chimneys have been demolished.

The demolition of the 1,000 chimneys was carried out by Shenyang municipal environmental protection and urban constructiondepartments.

Jiang Tao, an official with the city environmental protection bureau, said the demolition of chimneys will reduce the density ofpollutants in the atmosphere by 10 to 15 percent and free up to 240,000 square meters of land for afforestation.

Deputy city mayor Xing Kai said he would expect more benefits. Shenyang will enjoy cleaner air and a more beautiful environment and local people will have more places for entertainment and to spend their spare time, he added.

The deputy city mayor has also placed high hopes for the development of real estate in the city and for the arrival of high-tech firms and some of the world's top 500 enterprises.

The demolition of chimneys is a symbol of the economic changes in the city. Last year, the added value of the city's tertiary sector exceeded the added value of the industrial sector by 15 percent.

Demolition of the chimneys, nevertheless, aroused dispute amongdifferent groups of people. Some of them suggested that several typical chimneys, like the three 100-meter-high chimneys of the former Shenyang Metallurgical Plant, should have been preserved towarn coming generations not to forget the heavy price paid when seeking economic growth at the cost of the environment.

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