AP: "Why is a barren Chinese mountain being painted green?"

A large rose-tree stood near the entrance of the garden: the roses growing on it were white, but there were three gardeners at it, busily painting them red. Alice thought this a very curious thing, and she went nearer to watch them, and just as she came up to them she heard one of them say, `Look out now, Five! Don't go splashing paint over me like that!'

How did I blog for so many months without ever once quoting Lewis Carroll?

Villagers in southwestern China are puzzled by a county government's decision to paint an entire barren mountainside green.

Workers who began spraying Laoshou mountain in August told villagers that they were doing so on orders of the county government but were not told why, media reports said Wednesday.

Some villagers guessed that officials of the surrounding county, Fumin, whose office building faces the mountain, were trying to change the area's feng shui — the ancient Chinese belief of harmonizing one's physical environment for maximum health and financial benefit.

Others speculated that it was an unusual attempt at "greening" the area in keeping with calls for more attention to environmental protection.

Photographs of the mountain showed the exposed rock covered in an artificial green looming over houses against a scrubby background.

The official Xinhua press agency estimated the cost of the paint job at 470,000 yuan, or $56,000, and quoted villagers as saying that if it had been spent on actual plants and trees, the money could have restored a far greater area of barren mountain.

Laoshou mountain was quarried for more than two decades but ordered shut recently following complaints about dust and noise from villagers.

Officials have also been trying to stem environmental damage in the surrounding province, Yunnan, where logging and development of mountain areas have been blamed for heavy floods down river.

A women who answered the phone at the Fumin County forestry department said they were unaware of reasons behind the paint job.

"This is an order from above. You should ask the leader from above. I don't have any information on this," said the woman, who like many Chinese officials, refused to give her name.

(Hat Tip: Lucianne.com)

Tags: China, Lewis Carroll