Irritating

Local authorities in Hunan Province that have jurisdiction over Dongting Lake, China’s second-largest freshwater lake, have started dismantling illegal private walls around at least 20 square-kilometers of the lake. According to media reports, the walls were built in the 1990s when local officials rented the reed beds to individuals. Although the reeds were not money makers, the investors illegally enclosed the waters and privatized them by planting trees and farming fish there. Although other locals constantly complained that the illegal walls cut off their access to fishing grounds and hindered flood prevention efforts, authorities turned a blind eye until recently. Police are investigating, and netizens believe local corruption is to blame.