This link has been bookmarked by 2 people . It was first bookmarked on 29 May 2008, by hartono.
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18 Jul 08
Chris hkEven though Zhezi felt compelled to say, "Forgive me for my impotence in the face of reality. Facing PX, facing the pollution in this city, there's nothing but sorrow and wan description," and although there is now no longer any trace of the graffiti in many places lining the route of the walkers around Xiamen University, through the swift dissemination of the Internet, ANTIPX became the unanimous aspiration of the legions of Xiamen environmentalists.
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they had all received an email from the BBS whose general message instructed them not to post anything having to do with PX
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29 May 08
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On 29 May, the media reported that more than ten thousand Xiamen residents were circulating the same SMS message. But before long, the message was screened and it became hard to send or recieve it again.
The contents of the basically ran: "The Xianglu Group has invested in a (benzene) project in Haicang District. Should this highly-toxic chemical product be manufactured, it would be like dropping an atomic bomb on Xiamen Island; it would mean that in the future, the people of Xiamen would live in the shadow of leukemia and deformed children. We want to live. We want our health! International organizations have rules that these projects must be developed at least 100 km from cities; Xiamen is just 16 km away from this project! For our children and grandchildren....when you see this SMS please sent it to all of your friends in Xiamen!"
According to this reporter's understanding at the scene, there were not all that many city residents who received the SMS. "I did not personally receive that kind of SMS. I heard that some people around me got it. Everyone was passing it on. And I learned about today's action too," said Ms. Wen, who said she worked at a foreign trade company and who was out "parading" at noon on 1 June.
However, this did not seem to prevent "Have you received the SMS?" from becoming a greeting among Xiamen residents who met each other during that period.
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Internet
Ms. Wang, who participated in the 1 June "walk," said that she first learned of the PX project about three months ago on Sina. "However, it seemed that before long the post was deleted," Wang said. In fact, for many local Xiamen residents, it was on the most popular local BBS - Xiaoyu Community - that they learned about the important base for PX.
On 30 May, this reporter tried to access the Xiaoyu BBS but found the message, "The community is temporarily closed for a program upgrade. 2007.05.29." According to one user of the Xiaoyu BBS, they had all received an email from the BBS whose general message instructed them not to post anything having to do with PX. On 5 June, this reporter again tried to access the BBS and found that it had returned to normal.
At the same time, during a period at the end of May, Xiamen's netizens used email, MSN, and QQ to receive information about PX.
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Ye Zi received a message on QQ that went like this: "For our children and grandchildren, take action! Take part in a 10,000-person YX [游行, march]. At 8 am on 1 June, set off from your home for the municipal government. Tie a yellow band on your hand. If you have no time to participate, then send this information as widely as possible. For your own life, take action!"
On 2 June, the information sent through these channels went like this: "For two days, spontaneous parades have demonstrated our attitude. Production must continue, life must go on. There is no need to be impetuous and give unlawful elements eager for chaos an opportunity. Let us turn our eyes toward how the government handles the critical issue of the PX project."
"Anticipation for a green home never falters. Let us use soft, quite means to bring that forth. If you oppose the PX project, then tie yellow scarves everywhere - on your vehicle, on your work desk, on the bag you carry with you....at any place and at any time, ANTIPX, yellow scarves, so the city dances!"
"Walking," ANTIPX, yellow scarves...these became the symbols of the citizens' gentle expression of their opinions.
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