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August 25, 2008
China Families Make Sacrifices for Olympics
In Zhengjiazhuang Village, China, Li Zengxia's fish are dead and his crops are dying because the stream that was once, had been diverted 155 miles so the Olympics would appear green.
"This is a small thing for individuals," Li explained. "We should make contributions to the country. I understand -- we are a socialist family."
Millions of ordinary citizens such as Li are now suffering from water shortages, blackouts and business losses brought about because of the Games.
In Hebei province,(pictured) close to 80 billion gallons of water was sent to Beijing through a series of canals hastily built over the past few months, and whose construction displaced farmers, as well as made it difficult to grow anything.
A resident of the coastal province of Shandong wrote on one online message board, "A number of farmers are not big earners in income. They can not spend money to see Beijing Olympics. . . . From within the heart it is not fair."
"People say you live by the mountain and you live off the mountain; if you live by the water, you live off the water," said Fu Xiulan, 25, a housewife. "We live by both the mountain and the water, but we cannot use either," as reported by the Washington Post.
Posted by Stephen Betheil at August 25, 2008 12:50 PM
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