Word: coal
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...years, Zhao has worked as a miner in China's northeast, where much of the coal that drives the country's booming economy is mined. That longevity makes him a lucky man. Being a coal miner in China is one of the world's most dangerous jobs. Officially, about 5,000 of his fellow workers died in mining accidents last year. Unofficially, nobody knows how many were killed. In the space of a single week late last year, gas explosions and accidents in four mines left nearly 100 miners dead. Li Yizhong, head of the State Administration of Work Safety...
...Coal powers China. The original fossil fuel is the source of explosive economic growth in China, just as it was in Britain at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution and in the U.S. later. China is the world's biggest consumer of coal, its factories and homes using nearly a third of total world production. Much of that coal is dug in tens of thousands of mines scattered across the windblasted ocher hills northeast of Beijing. It is here--more than in the textile factories of the south where Western activists complain of sweatshop conditions--that Chinese pay in blood...
...toll highlights more than the awful conditions in an industry that the China Labor Bulletin calls "blood coal." It also exposes one of the most critical issues faced by Beijing: the inability of the central government to get local authorities to follow orders. The official Chinese media repeatedly feature stories on how local administrators ignore orders from Beijing on everything from controlling public spending and cracking down on corruption to protecting the environment. "Mining is the perfect case study of central-government relations with local government in China," says Arthur Kroeber, editor of the China Economic Quarterly. "The clash...
SEPA, admittedly, is not a full-fledged ministry. The drive to improve safety in coal mines, by contrast, has had backing from the very top for years. In 2003 Premier Wen Jiabao celebrated the Chinese New Year by eating dumplings with miners 2,300 feet underground. When he visited their homes and families, Wen called for improvements in mine safety. Wen has stayed involved in the issue, regularly expressing concern for miners and their families and once tearfully instructing officials to learn "lessons drawn in blood." Indeed, within days of the Zuoyun accident, the Premier met with rescuers and called...
According to accounts in the state-controlled media, such small mines, which account for a third of China's total coal output, are commonly subcontracted by local governments to individuals. With some 17,000 of these small mines now operating (as well as thousands of illegal mines), supervision by government authorities is virtually nonexistent. To maximize profits, mine owners ramp up production far above sanctioned levels, exceed the regulated number of miners and neglect safety equipment and procedures. Mine owners often bribe local officials into turning a blind eye to their practices and have been known to ship corpses...