The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has been publishing an annual list of the country's top 100 counties that have presented impressive economic indices and growth potential in the previous year, since 2000.

On the 2004 roster, 48 are from Zhejiang and Jiangsu. The two provinces also occupy eight places on the top-10 list, confirming with statistical proof the assumption that the Yangtze River Delta has taken the place of the Pearl River Delta as the most economically up-and-coming area in China.

With 0.7 percent of the national population and 0.1 percent of land territory, the top 10 counties accounted for 3.6 percent of the country's gross domestic product, and 6.6 percent of Chinese exports last year, according to Qiu Xiaohua, a deputy director of the NBS.

These counties are a major source of the country's trade surplus. In the past five years, their average annual growth reached 18 percent, double the national average. They surpassed the national average in terms of income three times over.

Enumerating the growing pains experienced by the economic upstarts, Qiu cited the drastic reduction in land resources, inadequate power and water supply, lack of skilled workers and excessive reliance on labor-intensive industries.

Headway made in lessening the impact of these factors may translate into additional vitality for the local economies.

But it is pitiful that Qiu's prescription for further prosperity sidesteps industrial pollution - a menace looming large over the Yangtze River Delta.

In Changxing County, Zhejiang, where 175 factories produce 65 percent of all batteries for motor vehicles in the home market, industrial pollution has not only killed fish and shrimp in the rivers, but also contaminated foodstuffs.

Rice, tea, peaches and plums from the county's Shangshi Village are reportedly being boycotted on the local market because of the high lead content.

Scientists issued a warning in Nanjing, Jiangsu last year that some areas in the city's territory are no longer suitable for growing vegetables, fruit and grain.

The Yangtze River Delta has caught up with and outperformed the Pearl River Delta thanks mainly to the mushrooming number of small enterprises operating in the private sector.

They contribute to local revenue and offer jobs. They also generate pollutants.

Environmental degradation may not always be noticeable. When the air becomes foul, or water thickens and changes color, we see it. But when the soil is polluted, we do not realize the levels of lead and mercury have reached such high levels that our food chain is in danger.

Small workshops and factories may lack the technology, money or initiative to think about clearing up the pollution they have created.

But while some firms set their sights on profits alone, local governments should not.

The governments have an obligation to make sure their tax bases are clean enough not to threaten their regions' sustainable growth.

Pollution is a timebomb for the Yangtze River Delta. It has to be defused before it is too late.

The country cannot afford for one of its most prosperous and most densely populated regions to become unsuitable for human habitation.

(China Daily September 26, 2005)