Visiting my mother in law, I have had a chance to speak to an older woman that might know more than any media outlet on mainland China. What has stunned me is that even the local off.... have been in....

This medium sized city has been built on and is dependant on its oil industry and its pertochemical plants out of which one, when on fire, almost exploded and destroyed the city a few years back. then, an old man (long time worker there) saved the city by turning one switch instead of running. i only know as my wife's sister and her husband work there.

Due to these plants, the pollution is "visible" here. Abuse of the environmental regulations is also evident as you try to take a breath looking in the subtropical sky. A couple days ago, as I could not see much and smelled some strangely unusual odor at 8 PM, I asked my in-laws whether it was remotely possible the plant could let some extra pollution out. YES, WAS THE ANSWER AND AT THE RIGHT TIME (AFTER THE DAY SHIFT). Moreover, I learnt that one of the local plant managers went behind bars for exactly what I asked about. Still, it goes on and on and we breath what we get to breath. That's the city and its officials that build the city on oil and regulations abuse.

To the point on topic, as there are many workers in the city and as the local pay is not equally high as in some other more developed areas of the country, there's more crime too. One of the most horrendous crimes to me now is the kidnappings. For organs, it's something that keeps me up at night. As one evening my mother in law opened up at the dinner table and after I asked, I got the story nobody'd dare to publish on mainland. There are gangs that kidnap kids of all ages as well as young women in the area, and that even across the street from in front of the primary school nearby us. She went on that even the old retired kidney was just fine as a 75 years old woman is easier to put in a van than that 25 years old one.

Trying to find some prove to my mother in law's story, I searched and searched on line but all I could've come up with was a recent story of the kidnappings for prostitution in the city and right after I read it, I was blocked from even getting the link out as my computer went down. When I turned it on it was not there...twilight zone? I do not dare to say where I am as it seems to be a really sensitive story and stories from before that have the city officials in too. There's a new police unit in the city formed, but I do not take chances as i hold my little son strongly when walking around.

Cheers and beers to the old locals that we all can learn from