Communist Party Congress: inside the Chinese village 'shrouded in the shadow of cancer' Villagers told The Beijing News they believed a spate of 25 cancer-related deaths were linked to the factory's air and water emissions that had turned the local river black. With a population of around 1,000, Houwanggezhuang'scancer death rate was double the national average. "The villagers got cancer one by one, and then died one by one," a villager told the newspaper. Fours years on from that report and China's outgoing president, Hu Jintao, last week trumpeted "a new era of socialist ecological progress" during his opening address to the 18th Communist Party Congress. During an unusually lengthy section addressing growing environmental concerns, Mr Hu said cleaning up "severe environmental pollution" was of "vital importance to the people's well-being and China's future." We should leave to our future generations a beautiful homeland with green fields, clean water and a blue sky. On Monday, Zhou Shengxian, the environment minister announced China will start assessing the "social risk" of major projects, following a series of anti-pollution protests, with authorities forced to cancel projects. "We are starting to see a phenomenon called 'Not in my backyard'," he said. I think it is natural when a society has developed to a certain level. But locals say little has changed in Houwanggezhuang - possibly one of hundreds of Chinese "cancer villages" that highlight the terrible toll the country's booming economy has placed on its environment and its people. Last year a Chinese environmental magazine, Diqiu, claimed Houwanggezhuang had seen 14 new cancer cases between 2008 and 2011. The victims - suffering from lung, throat, stomach and liver cancer - were increasingly young, the magazine reported. "Everything is the same," said one Beijing-based activist who has spent time in the village but insisted on not being named. On Monday, The Daily Telegraph attempted to visit Houwanggezhuang to learn about the village's plight. But with the 'Big 18th' Congress in full swing, its streets were heavily guarded by for-hire thugs in knee-length army coats and red caps that read: "Community Security." One villager said the chemical factory - which produces polyacrylamides, a type of polymer used to make food packaging and treat sewage - was still "burning waste" in the middle of the night, releasing a "strong smell" into the atmosphere. "We don't know if the chemical factory has caused the cancer but everyone knows that chemical factories should be located far away from villages," said another. "It's useless you doing research here," they added. It's the 'Big 18th'. Nobody will want to talk about it. They were not given the chance. Within minutes of arrival, a man wearing a police uniform (but with the identification number removed) appeared. "You are not welcome here," he barked, summoning backup on a mobile phone. More men arrived, sporting red armbands reading: "Security Patrol Volunteers." Then it turned violent. One thug tried to snatch a photographer's camera, grappling with his arm, knocking his glasses to the ground and stamping on them. Five men expelled the reporters from the village and onto the main road. At another entrance - located metres from the "Beijing Xitao Technology Development Company" chemical factory - more thugs appeared. "We knew you were coming," said one. Bulky, grimacing men continued to arrive, including one who appeared to be a local leader. "Just leave now or you might be beaten and bitten by dogs," he snapped before attempting to seize a camera from a reporter and manhandling his visitors as he chased them into their car. A dozen men surrounded The Daily Telegraph's vehicle, hemming it in with a car and a lorry. One tried to force open the locked doors. Forty minutes later the police arrived, demanding that all footage of the village be deleted. A man claiming to be the factory's "chief" appeared. He refused an interview request and declined to give his name. Eventually, the improvised blockade was removed. A silver Citroen carrying one of the green-coated thugs escorted the unwanted guests onto the motorway and back towards central Beijing where China's environment minister, Zhou Shengxian, was giving a press conference. "If we promote economic growth without environmental protection it is like draining all the water from a pond and then trying to go fishing in that pond," he said.