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It is very sad indeed. The river I am talking about is the Great Canal of China that runs from where I live in Hangzhou all the way to Beijing. I am sure there is a lot of direct run off from factories, atleast judging by the look of the water.
What is good though is that the Chinese government is now putting huge effort to curb the massive pollution. The problem with pollution is that it can happen fast but it can take forever to clean up.. I think places like in this post are starting to be considered very exotic because it is becoming more and more rare with such natural nature