Will This Chinese Village Get Justice?
February 16, 2011
QIUGANG IS A TINY HAMLET IN CHINA’S INDUSTRIAL HEARTLAND, a community living with the pollution produced by a chemical plant that is literally in their backyards. The Jiucailuo Chemical plant, a producer of pesticides and dyes, engaged in runaway pollution that poisoned Qiugang’s farmland, water supply, and sickened residents. In 2007, the villagers decided to fight back.
The Warriors of Qiugang is a 2011 Oscar-nominated documentary short chronicling the community’s struggle against corruption and government indifference. It’s also the story of Zhang Gongli, the farmer-turned-activist who emerges as Qiugang’s leader in the fight to get environmental justice.
When we meet Gongli, a man of limited means and education, he’s already filed two lawsuits against the chemical plant (and lost both). He and his fellow villagers soon realize it will take relentless action for change to come. The townspeople organize and eventually confront factory officials, who threaten and attack the villagers.
Even in the face of violence, the villagers refuse to back down, and Gongli takes the fight all the way to the higher-ups in Beijing.
This absorbing documentary is an incisive look at local politics, as well an inspiring story about the nascent environmental movement in China. Here’s where you can watch the full documentary.
