Zhou said he hopes the gradual recovery of the ecological function of the river will "transform the 'Mother River' of Hunan into the 'Eastern Rhine'. "

Environmental Protection Minister Zhou Shengxian said at a televised conference in February this year that the national blueprint for 2015 has set an emission-reduction target of 15 percent from 2007 levels for five heavy metals in key polluted areas. The metals are lead, mercury, chromium, cadmium and arsenic.

In 2010, more than 200 children in Hunan's Chenzhou city suffered excessive lead levels in their blood due to pollution from the local mining industry. In 2009 more than 1,350 children in Wenping of Hunan were also diagnosed as having excessive levels of lead in their blood due to pollution from a local smelting plant.

Blood-poisoning cases are not only happening in Hunan, but all around China. A string of such cases have been reported in Shaanxi, Anhui, Guangdong, Sichuan, Fujian and Yunnan provinces in recent years.

In addition, a recent report by Nanjing Agricultural University said research in 2007 found 10 percent of rice samples collected from markets were found to have excessive levels of cadmium, revealing pervasive heavy metal pollution in China.