Farmers also unloaded more than a thousand lifeless ducks into the Nan River in Sichuan province.

FORBES: Now In China's Rivers: Decomposing Humans

In 1985, primary school students sent a letter to the mayor of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, begging him to clean up the Fu and Nan Rivers that encircle the city.

CNN: 'The smelly sewer of Chengdu'