(Baotou) -- Vegetable farmer Ren Zhongchen holds a title in his hand to half a hectare of land in Dalahai, just outside Baotou City, but he says the piece of paper is worthless.

Dalahai, home of the state-owned mining behemoth Baotou Steel in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is one of seven villages that has for years been promised compensation for pollution linked to birth deformities and barren farmland.