Mass poisoning tainting trust in Chinese leaders

Mass poisoning tainting trust in Chinese leaders: "

BEIJING, Aug 23 — Six-year-old Miao Fan became a cause celebre overnight in her little county of Fengxiang, within China’s northern Shaanxi province, not long after she suddenly lost her appetite in March.

The lively girl, who loves to read books like Happy Lamb and Grey Wolf outside her parents’ tiny provision shop not far from China’s fourth-largest smelter, started to complain of stomach pains.

“At first, I thought Wawa (Little Doll) was being naughty by refusing to eat,” her father Miao Jianke, 36, told Shandong-based Qilu Evening News in a recent interview. But on March 15, Wawa was brought home from school crying in pain.

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