Going green from childhood

Born and raised in Tianjin, an industrial powerhouse in northern China, Wang Jingyi has been aware of pollution since childhood.

"My memories of childhood revolve around garbage and plastic bags that blew around in the wind," said the 25-year-old environmentalist. "My parents told me that a lot of people in nearby villages got cancer because of the toxic emissions from nearby factories. People called those places 'cancer villages'."

Wang never visited a cancer village, but after hearing horrific stories about the deaths of many of their residents, she became aware of the importance of the environment and the destructive effect of pollution. "I started to ask myself if I could do anything to change the situation," she said.