Hundreds of cities in throughout China are the fountainhead of the Yangtze River's pollution, and across the last 50 years, it has been an increase of 73% in pollution volume in the nucleus of the river, through sewage and industrial waste dumping.
Ironically enough, since the Yangtze river was often referred to as “the source of life” in China; due being home to 350 fish species, and accounting for a significant sum of China’s water resources for rice and fishery production as well as a big part of the nation’s GDP, while being a center of great biological wealth.