Photos: Cities and villages surrounded by pollution

（People's Daily Online） 07:39, January 17, 2013

Dongtan village in Hubei province affected by the chemical pollution on Oct.16, 2012. (Xinhua/Huang Yan)

Edited and translated by Huang Jin, People's Daily Online

Years of extensive economic growth, driven by the desire of a once impoverished people to become better off, has led to surging levels of carbon dioxide emissions and random discharge of hazardous chemicals by industrial manufacturers.

Voices that call for environmental improvements are loud, but the government is caught in the dilemma between sustaining its people's twin dreams of "living better" and "living green."

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