In the mountains of northern Guizhou, tens of thousands of villagers have been mobilised to perform a task none of them wants to do: collect rocket debris. They have been told some of the debris is dangerous, polluted by a deadly chemical called unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine, or UDMH. It is a yellowish liquid with a fishy smell that can be absorbed through the skin and cause cancer.
The villagers, who must find every piece of debris and carry it out of the jungle, will be paid a modest amount - but they do not have the option to stay home. It is a political order.
On Sunday morning, a Long March rocket blasted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in nearby Sichuan to send aloft the third satellite in the country's homegrown navigational network, Beidou. About seven minutes later, the first stage of the rocket dropped into the mountains around Jiucang village.
Before the launch, the Office of Civilian Air Defence in Guizhou ordered more than 100,000 villagers in the area of Renhuai township, including Jiucang as well as three other villages nearby, to go outside and monitor the sky, according to a communications officer who identified himself only with the surname Chen.
As soon as the office received reports of an explosion or fire, it ordered cadres of nearby villages to mobilise farmers to search for the debris, Chen said.
'We visit every village every year to make sure every family is well informed about the danger of the mission,' he said. 'We have told them the deadly effect of the chemical. Now most farmers living in the landing zone know to keep their distance when they spot debris.
