Risks come from all directions. Hypothermia, tetanus, bad water are risks. But survival can also be a matter of not living in an unregulated free market. A polluted environment and unhealthy work conditions can kill you. Cancer is not a pleasant way to go. It is often slow, ugly, painful and demoralizing.

http://www.grist.org/pollution/2011-05-25-cancer-now-leading-cause-of-death-in-china

They are also heavy smokers and have a lot of illegal cigarette factories that produce toxic cigarettes. A sample in britain had 30 times the normal amount of lead in them. Beware of buying illegal cigarettes.
qjs

The use of both toxic and cigarettes is a bit redundant. That those 'toxic' cigarettes had 30x the "normal amount of lead" drives that home. There is no non-toxic level for lead. There are levels where the damage is difficult to detect reliably against the background noise but there is no accepted level of lead exposure considered non-toxic.

The industrial areas of China are running into the limits of the ability of the environment to remain compatible with human life when exposed to the depredations of an unregulated free market.

Last I checked, China had 50 of the 100 most polluted cities in the world.

Having spent a lot of time in China, I'm not surprised. I could feel my life shortening every minute I was there from the incredible amounts of pollution.

-Blast