In the last century, the "world's eight major pollution incidents" in Western countries have had a huge impact on the ecological environment and public life. Among them, the photochemical smog incident in Los Angeles has caused nearly 1,000 deaths and more than 75% of citizens suffering from pink eye. The London smog incident killed 4,000 people in just a few days in December 1952, followed by nearly 8,000 respiratory deaths in two months, followed by 12 more severe smog events in 1956, 1957 and 1962. In the case of Minamata disease in Japan, nearly 1,000 people were affected by the painful mercury poisoning disease caused by the factory discharging wastewater containing methylmercury directly into Minamata Bay, and people suffered from mercury poisoning after eating contaminated fish and shellfish, and as many as 20,000 people were threatened. American writer Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring describes these conditions in detail.

——Speech at the Seminar on the Study and Implementation of the Spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (January 18, 2016)

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"The conquest of the forces of nature, the adoption of machinery, the application of chemistry to industry and agriculture, the movement of steamships, the passage of railways, the use of telegraphs, the reclamation of whole continents, the navigation of rivers, the enormous masses of people summoned from the ground as if by magic—in what century in the past century could have been expected to contain such productive forces in social labour?" In the "Communist Manifesto", Marx and Engels used such a majestic way to explain the impact of industrial civilization on the development of human society. However, while science and technology have created amazing material wealth, they have also brought great damage to the ecological environment.

World-class environmental pollution incidents, in an extremely tragic way, show the tragic consequences of environmental pollution, thus raising a nerve-piercing alert to human beings. Eight major pollution incidents in the world include the Maas Valley smog incident in Belgium, the London smog incident in the United Kingdom, the asthma incident in Yokkaichi City, the rice bran oil incident in Japan, the Minamata disease incident in Japan, the photochemical smog incident in Los Angeles in the United States, the Donora incident in the United States, and the bone pain incident in Japan.

The Maas Valley smog incident is the earliest pollution event among the world's eight major pollution incidents, and it is also the earliest recorded air pollution tragedy in the 20th century. The 24-kilometre-long valley of the Maas River is dotted with heavy factories, including coking, steelmaking, power, glass, zinc, sulphuric acid and fertilizer. From December 1, 1930, the whole of Belgium was covered in fog, especially in the Maas Valley, and on the third day of the abnormal weather, thousands of inhabitants became ill with respiratory diseases, and 63 people died, 10.5 times the normal number of deaths in the same period. It's a pity that these did not cause people to reflect at that time, and the iron hooves of industry are still advancing at the expense of the environment, constantly causing the tragedy of environmental pollution.

"Silent Spring" is a book that promotes environmental protection around the world, and for the first time questions the infallibility of "mankind's declaration of war on nature".

Xi Jinping expressed his great importance to environmental protection and green development by telling about the "Eight Major Public Pollution Incidents in the World" and introducing the book "Silent Spring". Lingering smog brings "breathing pain", widespread concerns about groundwater pollution, and desertification caused by the destruction of vegetation...... A large number of ecological and environmental problems accumulated over the years have not only become a pain in people's livelihood, but also more likely to give rise to problems at the social level. Xi Jinping stressed that "there is a historical accumulation process of ecological and environmental contradictions in China, which does not get worse in a day, but it cannot become worse and worse in our hands, and the communists should have such a mind and will." This points the way for China, which is rapidly modernizing: to fully implement the concept of "green development", avoid the old path of "pollution first, clean up later" in the West, and strive to find a new path that complements ecology and development.