After my first few days of a six week stay in Guangdong province I fear I may have discovered a reality that I was hoping was an exaggeration or myth – there is some pretty serious pollution going on here! Realistically the sun being a gorgeous tangerine colour in the gray afternoon skies is not some weather phenomena but simply the result of a whole lot of manufacturing and industry.
A mass of huge infrastructure projects are visible everywhere you turn in the Pearl River Delta rendering what was once quite possibly productive farmland into a commercial wasteland. All topped off with an eclectic collection of powerlines that criss-cross the area like a chaotically, overdecorated cake.
This picture-perfect portrait of what I like to think of as industry and development that has overdosed on steroids may not be pretty but it’s definitely a site to behold for its integral role powering the country that is known as the world’s factory.
