THE PRICE OF COAL

The emergence of China as a modern capitalist nation competing against more established nations has filled the media recently, but what is not so widely publicised is the cost levied on the Chinese working class. Most of the electricity produced there is from coal and the Chinese coal mines are amongst the most dangerous in the world. Production has more than doubled since 2000, but it has cost thousands of lives. This year alone we have 29 miners killed in Inner Mongolia, 24 killed in a fire in Henan and 26 killed in an explosion in the Yujialing coal mine. Now we have an even worse disaster. "Frantic relatives of 181 Chinese miners trapped by flash floods hundreds of metres underground scuffled with security force yesterday as they criticised rescue efforts.... Earlier, the chief rescue officer, Zhu Wenyu, was reported by state media as saying; "I'd guess that the miners down the shaft have no hope of survival." (Times, 20 August) RD