Wang Lixian was excited. He remembers thinking "They are asking for our opinion; that means ordinary people have the right to speak out."

He quickly passed the good news on to his colleagues. They all came up with suggestions for solving the pollution and relocation problems.

Wang Lixian telephoned the environment department and was told that all those living within 1000 meters from chemical factories would be relocated. But when he phoned back two days later he was told the person he had spoken to no longer worked there. Then no-one answered the phone for the next 10 days.

"The public announcement was just a ploy to trick us," said Wang.

"We will just have to rely on ourselves," Zhu Jingli said to his colleagues. They decided to take their grievances to a higher level.

When the farm leaders found out that Zhu Jingli had documented the pollution problems they tried to persuade him to give up his complaints. But Zhu refused.

In order to make sure his letters of complaint would be safely delivered, Zhu traveled 15km to post them in an area not controlled by the local leadership.

One month later they had received no reply.

Finally the workers decide to take legal steps to safeguard their rights. They decided to exercise their constitutional right to demand the recall of the local people’s congress deputy.

"Our interests have been seriously harmed but nobody is listening. The people's congress deputy is supposed to represent us and should be doing something about the pollution problems. He has been neglecting his duty.”

On June 2 Wang Lixian and Zhu Jingli presented a recall petition signed by 50 workers to the Standing Committee of Shihezi People’s Congress. The petition said Chen Jun, deputy to the Shihezi People's Congress had ignored the pollution problems within his electoral district and should be recalled from his position as deputy to the people’s congress.

A few days later they received a reply from the Standing Committee saying their attempt to recall Chen Jun had failed.

Chen Jun felt wronged by the recall attempt. He claims to have put forward many proposals regarding the pollution problems. “Xinjiang Tianye Corporation did not take over the residents' land so the question of compensation does not arise. In a way, that is why the workers are so angry. But Shihezi farm is building houses to sell to residents from polluted areas at a subsidized price," he said.

"It will take three to five years to relocate the residents. In the meantime some will have to stay where they are." Chen added.

After the recall attempt, a strange incident took place.

At about 4 o'clock in the morning on June 13, someone broke a window of Zhu Jingli’s small shop. Hearing the noise Zhu went to check what was going on. There was a strong smell of petroleum and he found half a bottle of gasoline nearby. "Was someone trying to burn my shop down?" Zhu called the police.

Today Zhu Jingli and Wang Lixian say they have done everything they can. "We can only sit and wait." Over the past few months they have put a lot of efforts in their campaign but they don't regard it as altruism. "We are just protecting our own interests," they said.

They find it annoying that younger people seem uninterested in justice or fair play. Zhu Jingli's daughter urged him to give up his efforts, saying "Stop looking for trouble. You are not the only one suffering from pollution. You can't right all the world's wrongs."

But Zhu Jingli won't give up. Even if he achieves nothing he says he will continue to fight for justice.

(China.org.cn by Zhang Ming'ai, August 6, 2008)