"Hundreds of people took to the streets of the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming on Thursday to protest against the planned production of a chemical at a refinery, the second demonstration this month against the project."
"China's increasingly affluent urban population has begun to object to a model of growth at all costs, which has fuelled the economy for three decades, with the environment emerging as a focus of concern and protests.
Photographs on Weibo, China's version of Twitter, showed a crowd of protesters in the center of the city carrying banners protesting against production of paraxylene (PX), a chemical used in making fabrics and plastic bottles, at the planned plant."
Ben Blanchard reports for Reuters May 17, 2013.