A report revealed that almost a fifth of China's soil is contaminated, an official study released by the government has shown.
With cadmium, nickel and arsenic being named as top pollutants, it was discovered that 16.1 percent of China's soil and 19.4 percent of its arable land showed contamination, BBC News reported.
The report, by the Environmental Protection Ministry, was conducted between 2005 and 2013.
Concerns of irreparable damage being caused to the country's environment through industrialization are being raised by both the government and the public.
According to BBC News, the study took samples across an area of 6.3 million square kilometers, two-thirds of China's land area.
"The survey showed that it is hard to be optimistic about the state of soil nationwide," the ministry said in a statement on its website.
"Due to long periods of extensive industrial development and high pollutant emissions, some regions have suffered deteriorating land quality and serious soil pollution."
A "soil pollution plan" and better legislation would be attempted as an implementation measure by the state due to the "grim situation."
"Levels of pollution ranged from slight to severe," BBC News reported. "About 82.8 percent of the polluted land was contaminated by inorganic materials, with levels noticeably higher than the previous survey between 1986 and 1990, Xinhua news agency quoted the report as saying."
"Pollution is severe in three major industrial zones, the Yangtze River Delta in east China, the Pearl River Delta in south China and the northeast corner that used to be a heavy industrial hub," the agency said.
Due to the sensitivity of the report, it had previously been classified as a state secret.
"There is growing fear in China over the effect that modernization has had on the country's air, water and soil," BBC News reported.
"The central government has promised to make tackling the issue a top priority - but vested interests and lax enforcement of regulations at local level make this challenging."
