Touzhan, a small village about 35 kilometres from Northeast China's Qiqihar, can be described as well-off compared to many rural communities around the country.

Shiny residential houses stand here and there, each with a large courtyard in front. A number of new houses are under construction.

Almost every household has at least five or six cows, and many residents own a tractor and a motorbike.

"The farmers here have a tradition of raising cows for milk," said a local TV reporter.

As a number of milk product manufacturers, including well-known national brands such as Yili and Guangming, scramble to buy raw milk from the farmers at competitive prices, the income of local residents has been steadily increasing.

With the cows and some crops, the farmers can earn more than 30,000 yuan (US$3,600) per household annually.

But the tranquil scene was shattered one day late last month and a mysterious cloud of apprehension has since descended on the village.

An area of about 3,000 square metres was cordoned off by police. Several families living in it were asked to leave immediately.

Nobody was allowed to enter the area. The uniformed guards even drove off any ducks that happened to wander by.

A dozen military tents were pitched in the area. Military trucks, fire engines and a number of weird-looking vehicles roared in and out over the next several days.

On June 17, when a group of people in masks and protective clothing appeared at the site, the villagers realized something very dangerous was unfolding.

Toxic bombs

"It must be some poisonous gas," said Guo Yanbo, who lives in a house some 50 metres from the cordon line.

News had been circulating among villagers earlier that more than 52 chemical bombs were discovered in Dong Liyan's yard.

On May 23, Dong, 54, found some bombs of various sizes when he was digging the foundation for a new house.

It was no surprise for people to find a bomb or two in this place, which served as a depot for Japanese invaders during World War II.

But Dong dared not continue when several heavily-rusted bombs appeared, and there were many more embedded in the soil. He immediately reported his discovery to the local government.

Chemical weapon experts from the military confirmed it was a chemical weapons dump used by wartime Japanese troops.

The bombs contain toxic substances like mustard gas, which can burn the skin and eyes and cause severe, sometimes fatal respiratory damage.

Using special detection instruments, officials confirmed there were at least 500 bombs buried at this site, said Ma Yinde, a chemical weapon expert from Shenyang.

At the request of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Japan dispatched a group of experts to the village to retrieve the weapons Japanese troops abandoned more than half a century ago.

The retrieval operation, which started last Thursday, was expected to be finished in about 10 days.

Dong was hospitalized after complaining of headache and sore eyes. Doctors said his blood pressure is a bit low, and he needs further diagnosis.

But he cares about his family, who was relocated to his aunt's home in the same village. He is also worried about his cows, which were also moved to his aunt's stable.

"My cows are having problems in milking because they do not get along well with my aunt's cows," Dong told China Daily from his bed at Ang'angxi People's Hospital.

"I want to go home, my own home."

Ubiquitous danger

Dong is not the first victim of Japanese-abandoned chemical weapons in Touzhan. But he is lucky compared to 73-year-old Liu Fengwu, who has been suffering from the effects of a Japanese chemical bomb for 48 years.

"I don't remember the exact year, but I know I was 25 when I almost died after touching it," said Liu.

Liu found a bomb in the backyard of his former home, which was right near the place Dong dug up a large number of bombs.

Some liquid with a strong smell came out of the bomb and splashed over his body when he tried to move the half-metre-long object.

"Blisters came out all over, his head swelled as big as a balloon, his eyes became blind and the skin on his chest peeled off when he fell into unconsciousness," said Zhang Xiuying, Liu's wife.

Zhang, then mother of a three-year-old daughter, thought her husband would never recover until Liu's brother took him to a military hospital in Qiqihar.

His recovery took more than a year, but the large patches of scar tissue, the permanent breathing problems, the coughing during nights and dull eyes still plague him today.

During their retreat in 1945 the Japanese invaders left the chemical bombs behind either by discarding them in ammunition store houses, throwing them into rivers or burying them around their military bases in China.

After more than half a century, the metal casing on many of the bombs and chemical containers has rusted away and started to leak, which poses a serious threat to the environment and Chinese residents.

"As the country's economy booms, construction of infrastructure and houses has really taken off," said Bu Ping, vice-president of the provincial academy of social sciences in Heilongjiang Province.

"As a result, injury or deadly incidents may happen at any moment."

Experts estimate there are at least 2 million Japanese-abandoned chemical weapons in a dozen provinces across China, though Japan insists the number is about 700,000.

A total of some 2,000 Chinese people have fallen victim to the chemical weapons over the past decades.

The August 4 incident last year that killed one and injured 43 in urban areas of Qiqihar is the most serious tragedy in recent years and sparked a new round of angry outcry nationwide.

The hidden dangers continue to surface over and over again. Just when the Japanese experts were clearing out the chemical bombs in Touzhan, a village 10 kilometres away on Sunday reported the discovery of about 17 bombs.

The bombs were later confirmed by weapons experts to be Japanese-abandoned chemical weapons.

The most alarming thing is that poorly-educated farmers never realized the bombs they found decades ago and placed in playgrounds are extremely toxic chemical weapons.

When will it end?

China and Japan joined the United Nation Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997.

Two years later the two sides signed a memorandum in which Japan agreed to provide all necessary money, equipment and personnel to ensure retrieving and destroying all Japanese-abandoned chemical weapons in China by 2007.

But it looks increasingly doubtful that the Japanese Government can meet the deadline.

"We have to say they are too slow in disposing of the chemical weapons," said Ge Guangbiao, director of the Japanese-abandoned chemical weapons disposal office under the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The Japanese have carried out 40-plus excavations since 1995 in different regions of China, such as Nanjing in Jiangsu Province, Songwu in Heilongjiang Province and Luquan in Hebei Province. But so far only 36,000 chemical weapons have been retrieved and put in temporary safekeeping. That's a very small percentage of all abandoned weapons in China, even according to Japan's estimate of 700,000.

Japan has long been preparing to build a disposal plant in Harba Hill in Dunhua, Jilin Province, where 90 per cent of all abandoned weapons in China are believed to be buried.

But the exact date of construction is still unknown and the initial plan is "to finish the excavation and retrieving of the weapons in two or three years," as disclosed by Aoyama Akihiko, an official with Japan's special office for abandoned chemical weapon disposal.

Akihiko explained the disposal efforts have been difficult because the operation sites are in China, and they need Chinese co-ordination and have to consider safety matters.

Chinese media have been critical of the Japanese Government for not being sincere enough in its promise to get rid of the chemical weapons.

"It is hard to imagine such inefficiency from a nation well-known for its high efficiency that has created business wonders in the world," said the Chinese magazine Globe.

China Youth Daily commented that the Japanese Government is discriminating against Chinese people.

The Japanese Government has responded swiftly and responsively to the needs of victims of chemical weapons in its own country over the past few years, but when it comes to Chinese victims, it is another picture, the newspaper said.

The Chinese victims of a number of injury incidents lost a series of lawsuits in Japan recently.

"What we want is not just money in compensation, but a formal apology from the Japanese Government," said Su Xiangxiang, a Chinese lawyer handling chemical weapon injury cases for years.

He hopes the Japanese Government can disclose the burial site of all its abandoned chemical weapons in order to avoid further tragedies.

(China Daily June 23, 2004)