It has been turning up in the news over here. My fiancé pointed out a New Scientist article on a lady's fight to save the environment from all the factories dumping toxic waste all over the place. They have the equipment to safely filter the waste before dumping into the local rivers, but do not use it due to it being expensive to run!
And tonight, Channel 4 showed the same problems but in a different region. People are suffering from strokes, cancer and crops die from pollution.
Yes, China is growing stronger, but with everyone moving to China to setup shop to save money, and even the Chinese themselves build more and more factories to try and profit from it. With little or no control, it's all getting out of hand. With people getting sick from the tainted environment. This and on top of China's problem with lowering female population.