Huazhou

— Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong have shelved plans to build a public crematorium near Huazhou city after clashes between protesters and riot police firing tear gas and wielding batons. Last week's clashes in Huazhou's Wenlou township, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Hong Kong, saw around 1,000 armed riot police take over the town after residents made barricades on the streets to block the passage of armored vehicles, local residents told RFA at the time.

— Guanzhong Basin is a crucial food production area in China. Located in the east of the Guanzhong Basin, Huazhou District is not only an agricultural area, but also contains some factories, contributing significantly to the urban agglomeration in Guanzhong. Due to the rapid industrialization and urbanization development, Huazhou District has experienced environmental problems and water crisis (Wu and Sun, 2016). For example, the water coming from the river channel of Jijiahe Reservoir is mainly industrial wastewater, and over the years, the reservoir has been seriously silted up and the ecology of watershed has deteriorated. Xue et al. (2016) have demonstrated that the nitrate concentration of the Wei River in Huazhou District is higher than in upstream river sections.