Authorities in Zhejiang have accepted responsibility and acted to stem pollution in one region after a series of environmental disasters.
Officials in Ping Yang county, known as the mainland's pig-leather capital, have ordered a massive restructuring of the area's 1,200 leather-making factories.
The action has been taken in an effort to clean up the region's heavily polluted waterways, Xinhua reported.
In six months local authorities have ordered the closure of 786 leather factories and created 122 new plants; consolidating another 370 facilities to just 64.
The drastic action, which also included building expensive waste-water treatment plants, was taken because the environment could not take further destruction.
To produce leather goods, plants dumped an estimated 8,000 tonnes of waste a day into the Ao River, transforming its once-clear waters into a foul-smelling cesspool.