Villages succumb to thirst for growth

The weeklong Spring Festival holiday I spent in my hometown, a village in central China's Hubei province, seemed to have soothed my nostalgia but also created more complications for me.

The rural area, always my escape from the fumes in Beijing's thronging streets, now is not only beset by unshakable noise, but increasingly polluted by pesticides and plastics.

I was sympathetic to my friend when I visited him and heard his gripes that his dream had been often torn by the noise from lorries and cars zipping on the expressway.