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 Environmental degradation is fuelling people's discontent in China,
where critics say years of breakneck economic growth have left a
dire crisis. Major cities are shrouded in perennial smoke and half
the groundwater in the country is tainted.
"Smog Is Coming", published last June, touches on fraud and
bureaucracy and their impact on air pollution, with the official
China Daily reporting that online excerpts have received tens of
millions of pageviews.
Author Li Chunyuan's career inspired the fictional effort, which
draws characters and scenes from his work as deputy director of the
Environmental Protection Bureau in the smog-choked city of Langfang
in Hebei province, he told state media.
"It is easier to tell people something through a novel than through
boring lectures," Li told the China Daily.
The novel features a masked burglar who exploits nightly haze to
cover his break-ins as it clouds the lenses of security cameras, an
episode Li said he took from real life.
Li said he wrote the book in a little more than three months, during
evenings and weekends, adding that he envisioned a trilogy, once he
had gathered enough material from his work.
Hebei, home to seven of China's ten worst smog-hit cities, has been
under pressure to cut dependence on heavy industries such as coal,
steel and cement, but has struggled to find viable alternatives for
growth.
Some Chinese internet commentators were skeptical, calling the book
a propaganda piece.
"It's good that it touches on an issue that bears on people's real
lives, but let's hope the government can actually improve the
environment too," one microblogger wrote.
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Elsewhere, the southwestern city of Chongqing banned residents from
smoking pork to make bacon, the official Xinhua news agency said,
blaming the annual tradition for smog.
It also banned another smoked delicacy, "firewood chicken".
Many families eat spicy preserved pork and sausages during the
Chinese lunar new year festivities coming up next month.
Chinese cities have tried to rein in outdoor grilling, and officials
have urged cooks to cut back on stir frys, in pollution-fighting
efforts often ridiculed in social media.
(Reporting by Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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