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Chinese lawyer Yu Wensheng poses for a portrait in Beijing on January 12, 2017. Toxic smog has found itself in the dock in China, as the authorities are taken to court over a problem that has choked entire regions, put public health at risk and forced the closure of schools and roads. At the helm is a group of human rights lawyers, who despite increasing government hostility to their work on some of China's most sensitive cases, say popular feeling is behind them when it comes to pollution that is literally off the charts. / AFP / FRED DUFOUR / TO GO WITH AFP STORY: China-pollution-law-environment, FOCUS by Becky Davis (Photo credit should read FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images)

Chinese lawyer Yu Wensheng poses for a portrait in Beijing on January 12, 2017.
Toxic smog has found itself in the dock in China, as the authorities are taken to court over a problem that has choked entire regions, put public health at risk and forced the closure of schools and roads. At the helm is a group of human rights lawyers, who despite increasing government hostility to their work on some of China's most sensitive cases, say popular feeling is behind them when it comes to pollution that is literally off the charts. / AFP / FRED DUFOUR / TO GO WITH AFP STORY: China-pollution-law-environment, FOCUS by Becky Davis        (Photo credit should read FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images)