Chinese farmer who studied law to sue state-owned enterprise wins first round

A farmer who studied law to fight a state-owned enterprise he believed was polluting his village has won the first step of a 16-year battle.

Wang Enlin, who left school in Grade 3 of primary education, spent the past 16 years suing Qihua Group, a state-owned enterprise, for dumping chemical waste on farmland in his village in Heilongjiang, Xinhua reported.

The court ruled in favour of the village and the company has cleaned up the obvious waste and taken it back to its industrial site. The court case said that for 16 years, the production plant dumped an average of 20,000 tonnes of chemical waste each year on farmland that covered more than 70 acres.

The chemical waste, in both solid and liquid form, also contaminated the water in a nearby lake, the suit contended. According to Xinhua, the villagers said the lake water had become sterile, tranquil and almost completely devoid of life.

Wang, who is a farmer, was personally affected by the contamination. He said that, at Lunar New Year in 2001, the dumping of chemical waste by the plant was so excessive that liquid chemical waste flooded his house, along with those of many other villagers.