Chinese farmer Wang Enlin is a man on a mission. When state-owned company Qihua Group, worth £233 million, polluted his land back in 2001, Wang was so affronted he decided to take on the chemical company. Single-handedly.
And amazingly, he's won the first round.
It's a real life David and Goliath story. Or an Oscar-bait film...the Chinese version of Erin Brockovich.
It's even more impressive given that he dropped out of school before he was ten years old. Imagine taking on a big national company and the last time you were in the schoolroom was when you were eight - around fifty years ago. More respect to Wang.
Wang's in his sixties, but that hasn't stopped him from getting angry at the state owned chemical company; he and his neighbours can no longer grow healthy crops on their land and the farmland they rent has been ruined by the chemical company dumping all their waste.
Wang says on the eve of the lunar new year in 2001, he was playing cards and eating dumplings with his friends when his crops were flooded with toxic waste. It was waste water from a nearby Qihua factory. This was the first time it happened - but not the last.
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He maintains that since then, the factory has been dumping hazardous waste into the village and the surrounding farmland - around 20,000 tons of chemical waste every year. That's a hell of a lot of chemical waste. And since the area relies on agriculture for its livelihood, it's really bad for everyone involved.
Wangs says there a 478-acre pond with liquid waste has appeared in the last few years and there is an area that's become 71-acre wasteland with calcium carbide residue - a white/grey powder that stops things growing in the earth.
After seeing an official in 2001, he was told he would have to produce evidence.
Wang told People's Daily Online: "I knew I was in the right, but I did not know what law the other party had broken or whether or not there was evidence."
Wang didn't know which laws the chemical company had broken - so he decided to take it upon himself study the law. Initially, he didn't have the money for expensive law books, so he would go to a bookshop and copy out notes by hand, appeasing the bookseller with bags of corn. He would look up the legal words in a dictionary - he was super dedicated and deterred by nothing.
He's been gathering evidence for the past decade from the land and his neighbours - and in 2007 a Chinese law firm decided to get on board and help him with a petition. It took eight years, but the court started processing the case in 2015.
And they won! He and his neighbours have been given almost £100,000 in compensation.
Qihua Group is not happy and is appealing the case - but Wang will be there to save the day.
Featured Image Credit: PA ImagesTopics: Study, Pollution, law, China