We're back in China again for what might be the most tragic of all their industrialization tales. Around 70% of all the world's electronic waste ends up in China, mainly through illegal transportation because international law forbids waste transfer on this scale. Guiyu seems to be the Chinese Government's preferred dumping ground for this waste, which has had appalling consequences for the city.
The world's media have dubbed Guiyu 'the electronic graveyard' due to the effect of toxic chemicals from electronic waste infecting the area. It has a much higher than average rate of miscarriages, but the news is worse for children who have already been born. Tests have revealed that a sickening 88% of all the children who live in Guiyu suffer from lead poisoning as a direct consequence of the local environment. With printer cartridges being washed out into the rivers, and acid baths used to strip salvage materials, most of the wildlife is already dead or dying.