Nick Holdstock

'Nick Holdstock is the author of 'The Tree That Bleeds', a book about Xinjiang, and writes about China for a wide range of publications.

Peasant farmer Wang Tao, with his wife and grandson, outside his sparse home on April 21 , 2011near where he used to grow corn, potatoes and wheat within a stones's throw of a dumping ground for rare earths waste until toxic chemicals leaked into the water supply and poisoned his land near Baotou city in Inner Mongolia, northwest China. Farmers living near the tailings dam, a 10-square-kilometre expanse of toxic waste, say they have lost teeth and their hair has turned white while tests show the soil and water contain high levels of cancer-causing radioactive materials.

China says it is improving the lives of ethnic minorities in Inner