Environmental Rights Protection · Full chronicle and history

A herder posted a video claiming that after a hydropower station was built in 2012, water from the dam area flooded their pasture, creating a mud pit. Over time, 200 sheep and more than 20 cattle and sheep have drowned, including a loss of 37 lambs on April 17, 2025 alone. Despite multiple reports to village and town authorities, there has been no resolution or compensation. The herder hopes for drainage to eliminate the hazard and compensation for the losses.

On October 13, residents of Heping District in Tianjin posted a video saying that construction of Metro Line 8 had caused severe cracks in nearby houses. Residents quarreled and scuffled with construction workers, then stopped the work at the site, demanding a halt to construction, a safety appraisal, and negotiations on compensation, saying that no party had come forward to discuss a repair plan.

Because the Luchin Expressway construction project included no drainage system, the road has been flooded for a long time; villagers' collective rights defense led to a clash when large numbers of police and riot personnel arrived on the scene.

On October 2, residents of Matarape village in Morowali, Indonesia, blocked a road to protest dust pollution caused by Askon company's transport operations. About 40 Chinese workers arrived at the scene, some carrying wooden sticks and iron tools, and clashed with residents. The incident left 5 residents and 1 foreign national injured, 5 work vehicles damaged, and 5 excavators burned.

On September 30, several homeowners at the Jinsha Qingyun Academy community in Zhecheng County, Henan, staged a protest with banners and a sit-in in front of the sales office, opposing the developer's plan to build a large waste transfer station near the main entrance of the community, saying the stench was seriously affecting their living environment.

Since June 10, 2026, hundreds of residents of Wuchang, Wuhan have clashed with police over a planned hazardous waste laboratory at their doorstep.

Late at night on September 19, residents of Poly Philharmonic Town and surrounding communities in the Zhaoqing Hi-Tech Zone gathered in front of Zhaoqing Juyuan Biochemical Co., Ltd. and Zhaoqing Changlong Biotechnology Co., Ltd. to protest. Due to long-term health damage caused by exhaust pollution from nearby chemical plants, they demanded an investigation into the enterprises' illegal discharge. Local police and environmental protection departments arrived at the scene to handle the situation, and there is currently no resolution.

On September 16, villagers in Xujiagou Village, Qian'an City, Tangshan City, Hebei Province, protested against environmental pollution and land destruction caused by mining construction. A large number of SWAT police and security personnel gathered at the scene, engaging in physical clashes with villagers during the dispersal, resulting in multiple villagers being forcefully carried away.

On September 14, families of multiple victims in Lishui, Zhejiang, held portraits of the deceased and went to the headquarters of Lishui Public Transport Group Co., Ltd. to conduct rights defense. The family members stated that their father was killed after being struck by a bus while performing road work. Nearly three months after the incident, the bus company has yet to provide a clear response, prompting the family to visit the company to demand accountability.

On September 16, villagers of Xujiaogou Village in Tangshan, Hebei, protested the pollution and environmental damage caused by iron ore mining. The local government mobilized staff, police and SWAT forces into the village to suppress the rights-defending villagers and forcibly push ahead with mine construction.

On September 12, Liu Anjun went to the Beijing Guangnei Police Station and other departments to demand clarification on Sun Meihua's suspected abandonment, trafficking, and purchase of persons, and was told that the case was still ongoing and that information was kept confidential from non-direct family members.

On September 7, the blogger "Yulie Qige" filmed a barge directly dumping a full hold of black muddy material into the Yangtze River near the Wuhan Qingshan Yangtze River Bridge. According to reports, the blogger witnessed three barges carrying out similar operations within 1.5 hours and has filed a complaint with the relevant authorities.

On September 7, 2026, an outdoor blogger’s aerial footage revealed that in the waters of the Qingshan Yangtze River Bridge, multiple barges dumped an entire hold of black, unidentified mud-like material directly into the Yangtze River in just over ten seconds. The person involved has reported the matter to the environmental protection authorities.

On September 4, 2026, a large number of villagers gathered in protest outside the gate of Liaoning Datang International Fuxin Coal-to-Natural-Gas Company, accusing the company of emitting pungent, foul-smelling gas for days, which caused health problems such as sore throats and shortness of breath among many villagers; police stood guard at the scene.

On September 14, 2026, an elderly person in Harbin City disclosed to the public via video, stating that after Harbin Vocational and Technical University carried out campus expansion works, the construction site's drainage system has long been discharging onto his own land, causing trees on the campus to be soaked and die; at the same time, construction spoil was dumped on his plot, crushing fruit trees and grape vines that had been planted for more than ten years. The video shows the plot overgrown with weeds, and some areas piled with bricks, plastic bags and other construction waste. The elder said he had repeatedly negotiated with the school to no avail, and now requests relevant authorities to intervene.

Liu Xiang posted on Weibo asking netizens for help, saying the Shanghai Sports Bureau required him to choose between a "buyout of his years of service" and "becoming a coach," and questioning why the placement issue had been delayed for ten years. The Shanghai Sports Bureau responded that it would arrange proper placement.

On August 24, 2026, some property owners in a busy downtown area within the Third Ring Road of Zhengzhou, Henan, gathered to defend their rights, protesting against the rezoning of former driving school land near their residential complex into a cemetery renovation and upgrade project, questioning its impact on the living environment.

On August 21, 2026, residents of Xidui Village, Huxi Town, Dongyang, Zhejiang, clashed physically with personnel wearing red armbands after opposing the routing of a sewage pipeline for a 100,000-head-per-year pig farm through the village and right next to a water source protection zone.

A conflict broke out in Xidui Village, Dongyang City, Zhejiang, because authorities insisted on pushing forward a large-scale pig farm project within a drinking water source protection zone despite villagers' opposition. Over a hundred government workers clashed fiercely with protesting villagers.

On August 15, 2026, China's first Ecological Environment Code officially took effect. On the same day, a court in Quzhou, Zhejiang, delivered a verdict in the country's first noise pollution liability dispute case tried under the code.

Affected villagers posted stating that the flood was a man-made accident, and all residents of Liulan Village refused to sign, demanding an explanation from higher authorities.

On July 14, 2026, an environmental blogger revealed that areas around Yinzhan Town, Weng'an County, Qiannan Prefecture, Guizhou have long suffered severe industrial waste gas pollution. The acrid air has killed trees and crops and caused villagers to vomit, and villagers' complaints over nearly ten years have gone unresolved.

On July 2, 2026, a bamboo raft in the waters off Houjiang, Nan'ao County, Shantou, Guangdong was capsized after being struck by an iron vessel, killing one person, and the vessel responsible fled the scene. Recently, the family took to the internet to report that no case had been filed long after the incident and that dock surveillance footage had been overwritten, publicly seeking help to defend their rights.

In a certain area of Anhui, a garbage dump project sparked public outrage, residents took to the streets in protest, and ultimately the local government cancelled the project.

On the evening of June 27, 2026, thousands of residents in Luyang District, Hefei City, blocked Beierhuan Road in protest against the construction of a waste transfer station, confronting SWAT police. Eventually, the district chief and the deputy director of the Municipal Public Security Bureau arrived and announced the project's cancellation.

On June 27, 2026, over a hundred residents near Haotianyuan in Luyang District, Hefei, Anhui Province, took to the North Second Ring Road to block traffic in protest against a planned garbage transfer station, paralyzing traffic. Under the residents' resolute resistance, District Mayor Yang Binghong announced on the scene that the garbage station project would be canceled.

On June 26, 2026, several residential areas in Longyan, Fujian Province were filled with a pungent, foul odor for several consecutive nights, causing residents to suffer symptoms such as cough, sore throat, and nausea. Large numbers of people filed continuous complaints, and the environmental protection department deployed drones to patrol and investigate.

On June 18, 2026, Radio Free Asia reported that the Central China Hazardous Waste Technology Center project on Gongzheng Road in Wuchang, Wuhan, continued to trigger mass protests by hundreds of residents; police arrived to disperse the crowd and took away and injured many people, and online information was strictly controlled.

On June 18, 2026, villagers in Zhengyang County, Zhumadian, Henan reported that the Qingshui River appeared to be severely polluted by discharge; after irrigation, peanut fields and vegetables blackened and withered over large areas, and the village committee urgently issued a notice banning water diversion for irrigation.

On June 15, 2026, local villagers in Hejin City, Yuncheng, Shanxi, unfurled rights-defense banners to protest construction violations during an aluminum plant renovation project that caused cracks and damage to multiple nearby villagers' homes without any compensation.

On June 14, 2026, at the protest scene at Sunac Center Yihao Yuan in Wuchang, Wuhan, large numbers of riot police formed a dense human wall between the residential compound and the construction site of the controversial hazardous waste laboratory to block residents' protests.

On June 12, 2026, the Gaizhou City Public Security Bureau in Liaoning formally returned 2,859.2 grams of gold products seized nearly 30 years ago to Dalian man Pan Yongjia and reached a settlement, with the party withdrawing his state compensation application.

On June 12, 2026, it was reported online that villagers in a place in Zhejiang said the mining project brought in by the local government through investment attraction had caused serious damage to houses in surrounding villages due to excessive blasting vibrations, and they had received no compensation despite long-term rights defense.

On June 13, 2026, large numbers of residents in Wuchang District, Wuhan, launched a collective rights defense action over dissatisfaction with the construction of a laboratory for a high-risk waste technology center right next to residential buildings on Gongzheng Road. The scene was met with a heavy police presence, and the internet was blocked.

On June 8, 2026, in Qitaihe, Heilongjiang, a candidate ranked first in a public institution exam but was illegally replaced. After the person involved continued to defend her rights and appeal, local officials directly issued an announcement canceling the entire recruitment position in question.

In Mingliu Village, Bobai County, Yulin, Guangxi, government personnel, police and construction workers tried to go up the mountain to forcibly install wind turbines, but local villagers collectively blocked the only road leading there and successfully stopped them.

After returning to her hometown in Guizhou, Xiao Wei (online name "Xiao Wei is not Xiao Wei"), a mainland spouse deported from Taiwan, has been actively defending the rights of local residents, live-streaming to denounce local government extravagance, and publicly challenging the local village committee to a debate in her live-stream.

In December 2025, members of the public reported to the central ecological and environmental protection inspection team that more than 100 chemical enterprises in three townships of Dongguang County had no permits and other problems; the local response said the claims were untrue. An approval officer at the county Emergency Management Bureau told CCTV reporters that they were not shut down because they pay taxes to the county, and the county would not allow them to be banned.

After the Yang Jia case occurred, artist Ai Weiwei published a series of posts on his blog, pressing questions about the details of Yang Jia's case, the circumstances of his mother being committed to a psychiatric hospital, and the violations of procedure during the trial; his blog at one point became a gathering point for online public opinion. After that, he spoke out for Yang Jia multiple times.

Ms. Ma Yongtian won a lawsuit regarding her factory being robbed in 2002 and obtained a court judgment.