Maoming PX protest

“The Maoming Confrontation” (Badiucao for CDT)

Hundreds of residents of Maoming, a city in the southeastern province of Guangdong, took to the streets on March 30 to protest the construction of a paraxylene (PX) processing plant. PX is used in the manufacture of plastics, and has for years been the target of not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) protests in China. Protests continued at least through April 3 and spread to Shenzhen and to the provincial capital, Guangzhou.

Rumors circulated on social media that a heavy police crackdown on early Maoming protesters left at least four dead and several more injured. China’s state media denied these rumors for several days, instead focusing coverage on the benefits of domestic PX production and public misconceptions about the environmental danger of PX plants. The authorities did eventually admit that there were casualties.

PX plants have stoked protest since 2007, when residents kept out a plant slated for construction in the coastal city of Xiamen. To date, PX protests have occurred in Dalian, Ningbo, Kunming, and Chengdu. The “Xiamen model” also created a new form of protest in which people gather at a set time and place to take a walk.

中文资料：茂名PX项目

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