"I have a 14-year-old child going to school," he choked on national television. "I can't pay the school fees. I couldn't hand over any money when the teachers asked for it".

Nearly 100 peasant families had their livelihoods stripped from them after toxic chemicals dumped in the Shiliang river in 1999 and 2000 by a private paper factory reached the reservoir.

Until recently, they would have had little hope of battling the tide of China's enormous environmental problems, unleashed by two decades of unbridled economic growth considered far more important than the impact on the land, air and water.

But they joined the ranks of Chinese pollution victims who have started to fight back.

They won - albeit on paper so far - compensation of 5.6 million yuan thanks to a non-governmental organisation (NGO), the Centre for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims, which gathered evidence and represented them in court.

"The verdict was passed last month (December) but I am yet to receive all the court documents," Wang Canfa, the group's lawyer, said in his bare office in west Beijing.

"It is not sure they will get the money, but the factory has to cease production," said Wang, director of China's first NGO to offer free legal assistance to pollution victims.

UPHILL STRUGGLE

The small NGO, launched three years ago, has fielded thousands of telephone calls and taken 22 of the cases it deems most worthy to the courts.

This year, the centre plans to widen its scope to help people who blame pollution for their deteriorating health, Wang said.

Growing environmental awareness is helping victims challenge polluters threatening their way of life, experts say.

Last year, more than 400 elementary school children sued a plastics factory claiming a chemical leak made them suffer headaches, dizziness and abdominal pains, according to official media reports. No result has yet been published in national media.

Other, local, NGOs committed to protecting the environment have mushroomed in recent years, adding to an embryonic debate on sustainable development.

"Ten years ago almost nobody ever used environmental law to protect themselves," said influential activist Liang Congjie.

"Some people have started to think it is possible to try and protect themselves with the law, but still very few people practise this," he said.

The battle is an uphill one given widespread corruption among officials who turn a blind eye to offences for personal gain and lax enforcement of otherwise comprehensive legislation.

"If people in the provinces try and sue these companies, they come up against courts which are not very independent because they are influenced by local governments and work units," said Wang. "Even if the peasants are right, they often lose the case."

ACUTE PROBLEMS

That people were starting to fight back showed some progress in a country which amassed a grim environmental record in the dash for economic growth, Liang said.

China unveiled its first "green" five-year plan for economic development in March 2001, acknowledging the need to clear choking air pollution, clean rivers and curb water consumption.

But the task is seen as mammoth given that comprehensive laws introduced over the past five years are rarely enforced.

Acid rain affects 30 percent of the land and widespread soil erosion exacerbates natural disasters, officials say.

The World Bank said last August that land degradation was worsening, forests were shrinking and the explosive growth in car use was adding significantly to pollution.

But in some areas of China, especially the cities, the seeds of environmental awareness are beginning to take root.