This port city of 15 million people, a short train ride from Beijing, attractshundreds of thousands of new residents each year. Most move to the city’s outer edges, where industrial plants were built decades ago. Some of the chemical sites, now surrounded by new suburbs, have dangerously lax regulations. One Chinese law mandates that chemical storage facilities, such as Ruihai, be located at least 1,000 metres from public spaces. But the rule is routinely violated, and the country’s complex regulatory regime – sprawling across national laws, local regulations and a myriad of often contradictory industry-specific guidelines – is at best patchily enforced. Read more
