Ganzhou (贛州) in southern Jiangxi (江西) is known as “The Kingdom of Rare Earth“. It is also a place where the government has tried to cut production and curb illegal mining in recent years. A useful rule in China is that you can tell what the most pressing issues are in any locality by looking at Communist party slogans. The one in the picture above reads (approximately) “Illegal rare earth miners are destroyers of our children’s future”. Another one, of which I was unable to take a picture, read “Illegal rare earth mining will result in immediate torching of all excavation equipment.â€
