China Exclusive: Blast victim's mixed feelings on chemical projects

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China Exclusive: Blast victim's mixed feelings on chemical projects

By Lyu Qiuping, Shi Shouhe and Liu Baosen (Xinhua) 18:45, November 27, 2013

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QINGDAO, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Chemical projects brought fortune to people on Qingdao's Huangdao Island, but they also have taken their homes and even their lives.

Cui Bing had mixed feelings about the plants there, but he was not determined to move from the small island of Huangdao until five days ago, when a pipeline blast killed 55 people, leaving nine others missing.

"In just an instant, they were all gone," said the 51-year-old Cui.

At the Beihai Garden residential community where Cui lived, four buildings were left tilting over from the blast, including the one that contained his fifth-floor apartment. At least four people died in the community.

Cui only narrowly escaped death because he was at work at the time of the blast. "Had I left for home 20 minutes earlier, I would have been killed on the way," he said.

Following the blast, Cui turned to a relative for shelter and the government later arranged for him to stay in a hotel.

Huangdao Island is a district under the port city of Qingdao in east China's Shandong Province. Cui has worked at the nearby Datang power plant on the island since 1978 when he graduated from high school.

He still remembers how the plant where he worked when he first came here was located right near the coast. He and his colleagues often collected crabs and sea cucumbers on the beach.

In the same year, China adopted its opening and reform policy, which helped lift tens of millions of people out of poverty and also greatly changed the island of Huangdao.