How 2018 chilled China’s civic engagement and stifled environmental activism.

By Lisa Peryman for Probe International

Refusing to Forget | The 7th Anniversary of the Quangang “C9” Fraction Chemical Spill: How Environmental Issues in China Entered a Long Cold Winter

Diyin.org —a Chinese-language media project dedicated to sensitive issues—illuminates the incident that marked the end of an era for citizen-driven accountability in China.

In a report published last year, Diyin maps out how a catastrophic oil tanker accident on Nov. 4, 2018, in Quangang District, Fujian Province, became emblematic of a larger trend: the depoliticization of environmental activism in China.

When the removal of presidential term limits in 2018 entrenched Xi Jinping’s rule indefinitely, the suffocation of civic space accelerated, closing the door on a time when Chinese citizens could harness online platforms and grassroots pressure to demand environmental accountability, notes Diyin.

In the immediate aftermath of the spill, which unleashed a torrent of C9—a highly volatile and toxic petroleum byproduct—local authorities rushed to quell public panic. They declared the contamination had been contained and that air quality had returned to normal. But beneath the facade of control, Diyin describes the storm of doubt brewing.

As media outlets like Beijing News began to dig deeper, the cracks in the official narrative widened. Just two days later, a fisherman who fell into the polluted waters was left fighting for his life in the ICU. Authorities insisted that the cause of his condition was still “under investigation,” and persisted with their claims of normal atmospheric conditions, an insistence increasingly at odds with reality.

A shocking video report from People’s Daily surfaced, revealing journalists at the spill site reacting to noxious odors that caused throat and chest irritation, as they shared reports from fishermen of dead abalone, along with images of corroded foam on fish rafts near to the leak point. The explosive footage went viral on Weibo, racking up over 25 million views and ignited public outrage.

The regime went to work. On November 11, journalist Zhou Chen from Caixin Weekly faced a chilling intimidation tactic—a late-night inspection by men posing as police, who obtained his hotel keycard without a warrant. This marked a sinister shift towards coordinated “joint narrative control” by local authorities and cyberspace regulators, determined to suppress dissent and silence the truth-tellers.

Despite initial media coverage revealing the severity of the spill—complete with hospitalizations and lingering toxic odors—the government’s narrative prevailed, systematically throttling public discourse. Weibo’s trending topics saw “Quangang C9” plummet from its top ranks to obscurity, a clear indication the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) was applying a stranglehold. Following a crackdown on “self-media chaos,” thousands of online accounts were shut down, and public discussion dwindled into silence.

Writes Diyin:

Unlike the Tianjin port explosion … the Quangang incident did not result in large-scale casualties. Yet it is worth revisiting because it became a symbol of an era’s transition. When the Tianjin explosion occurred in 2015, the CAC had only just emerged, and internet platforms such as Weibo still functioned as spaces where public issues—including environmental concerns—could ferment and spread. Quangang felt like the closing chapter of that period, as comprehensive control over public discourse became normalized and unavoidable. For environmental issues, this shift was particularly devastating. For many years, environmental progress in China relied on bottom-up civic pressure, amplified by online attention, to force local governments to respond.

Eight years after Quangang, as Diyin notes, gone are the days when China’s grassroots movements could force government concessions; the public airing of environmental concerns are now relegated to state-approved discussions about stray animals and beach cleanups.

This domestic silencing carries profound international consequences. Freed from meaningful internal challenge, the Chinese Communist Party can curate an outward image of green leadership—parading carbon neutrality goals, renewable energy milestones, and ecological civilization rhetoric—while domestic reality tells a different story. Western environmental organizations and advocates, often desperate for signs of cooperation in the global climate fight, have readily embraced these projections. In doing so, they become pawns in the CCP’s game.

When Western partners applaud the performance while ignoring the suppression that enables it, they do not aid the planet; they betray the very people whose courage once offered hope for change. As long as the mechanisms that buried Quangang remain in place, China’s environmental future will remain shadowed by the same forces that turned a toxic leak into a symbol of irreversible closure.

Related Reading

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THE TRUTH ABOUT CHINA – Why Beijing Will Resist Demands for Abatement

THE ROAD FROM PARIS – China’s climate U-turn

CHINA’S ENERGY DREAM – China’s Use of the Climate Agenda