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Why is a barren Chinese mountain being painted green?
Villagers in southwestern China are scratching their heads over
the county government's decision to paint an entire barren
mountainside green.
Workers who began spraying Laoshou mountain last August told
villagers they were doing so on orders of the county government
but were not told why, media reports said Wednesday.
Some villagers guessed officials of the surrounding Fumin
county, whose office building faces the mountain, were trying to
change the area's feng shui _ the ancient Chinese belief of
harmonizing one's physical environment for maximum health and
financial benefit.
Others speculated it was an unusual attempt at 'greening' the
area in keeping with calls for more attention to environmental
protection. Photographs of the mountain showed the exposed rock
covered in an artificial green the color of Astroturf looming
over houses against a scrubby background.
The official Xinhua News Agency estimated the cost of the paint
job at 470,000 yuan ($60,600) and quoted villagers saying that
if spent on actual plants and trees, the money could have
restored a far greater area of barren mountain.
Laoshou mountain was quarried for more than two decades but
ordered shut recently following complaints about dust and noise
from villagers.
Officials have also been trying to stem environmental damage in
the surrounding Yunnan province where logging and development of
mountain areas have been blamed for heavy floods down river.
A women who answered the phone at the Fumin county forestry
department said they were also unaware of reasons behind the
paint job.
'This is an order from above. You should ask the leader from
above. I don't have any information on this,' said the woman,
who like many Chinese bureaucrats, refused to give her name.
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