It is not just the capital city of Beijing which is reeling from the impact of air pollution. Across many towns and cities in other Chinese provinces, residents too are blaming the bad air caused by excessive industrialization as the reason why men are dying earlier.

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In one such place, Zhuzhou, a city of Hunan Province, has earned the moniker "Village of Widows," which residents blame on the Qingshuitang Industrial Zone.

 The estate houses chemical plants and smelting facilities that produce zinc and lead.  It is the same place where Chairman Mao was born and grew up, reports National Post.

Many of the men have died of lung cancer, with the deaths blamed on their inhaling too much poisoned gas from factory emissions.

Some men died of pancreatic cancer, which widows and mothers believe came from farm produce that were tainted with heavy metals trapped in the city's soil.

The villagers have the numbers to prove their case - 54 residents have cancer, of whom, 43 have succumbed to the ailment; 38 are male and only five are female.

The huge gender gap is explained to most of the men having been born in Zhuzhou and exposed to pollution all their life, while most of the women were migrants who just moved in after they got married.

Factories started to rise in the area in the 1950s. A 62-year-old resident said that as more factories were opened, worms disappeared from the soil and birds from the sky.

"If even humans can't stand the pollution, what chances of surviving do small animals and insects have?" the resident said.

In March, a new minister of environmental protection will take over in Beijing - Professor Chen Jening, who studied at the Imperial College London. He will replace Zhou Shenxian, who admits failure to curb pollution in the Asian giant.

Meanwhile, as the nation observes Lunar New Year on February 19, there is a move to stay away from the old Chinese tradition of lighting fireworks to curb pollution levels, reports Fox.

Several cities have totally banned fireworks, while others cut the number of fireworks vendors allowed to sell their ware. Phone companies in Beijing advised residents not to set off fireworks.

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