Though he knows his job is dangerous, Wei Guangxiang, a "migrant worker," cares little about those gruesome mining accidents that always receive front-page prominence for causing scores, and even hundreds of deaths.

"I have to earn bread for my family," says Wei, 37, a former farmer and now a miner.

In the current Chinese terminology, "migrant workers" refer to those from poverty-stricken rural areas who take on industrial jobs for higher incomes.

Wei comes from a village in Zhangjiakou, some 200 kilometres to the north of Beijing, where he made 3,000 yuan (US$361) a year by growing soybeans and wheat on a plot of land just 0.66 hectares large. He is now earning 1,500 yuan (US$181) a month, or 18,000 yuan (US$2,176) a year, in a privately owned coal mine in Da'anshan in Fangshan District in the western suburbs of Beijing. That is six times his income before he left for the current job in 2001. His wife and son are with him.

Wei says he feels life is easier here in Fangshan. He now has enough money to feed and clothe his family. His son is a fourth grader, and he can afford to pay the child's school fees. Besides, he can save a little and send it to his aged parents back in his native village.

But his 35-year-old wife, Zhai Yan, is not so light-hearted.

"Day after day," she says, "my husband works about 12 hours down in the pit. My heart is in my mouth until he comes back home, safe and sound."

The woman says she feels "grilled" every day because of anxiety, especially after 10 miners were killed in a gas explosion in the pits at Da'anshan last June.

She may not know just how frequent mine accidents are in China. According to the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS), 6,027 miners were killed in 3,855 accidents last year across the nation, meaning that on an average, 17 miners lost their lives in a dozen accidents per day.

Privately owned mines are the main culprits, according to SAWS' investigation. Among the 28,000 operating across the country, more than 24,000 are private businesses, invariably small and poorly equipped.

SAWS reported that during the first 10 months of 2004, privately owned mines furnished 35 per cent of the country's total output of coal while being responsible for 73 per cent of the deaths of accidents.

Zhou Xinquan, dean of the Resource and Safety Engineering School of China Mining and Technology University, believes that private coal mine owners are the most likely of all companies to seek profits at the expense of the safety of their workers.

"Coal is sold at 300 yuan (US$36) per ton on average, and the cost of producing that much coal by a privately owned mine is less than 100 yuan (US$12)," he notes.

"For large mines under State ownership, the cost of production can be twice as great."

"For maximum profits," he adds, "most mine owners never hesitate to minimize the investment in safety equipment and training."

After he came to Da'anshan, Wei Guangxiang went through what his boss chose to call "training in mining safety," which turned out to be a few talks on how to cope with "emergencies" down in pits. "In nine cases out of 10, that kind of 'training' is intended to hoodwink safety inspectors," Zhou says.

China's galloping economy has driven up the prices of energy, prompting mines, private or State-owned, to produce above capacity. According to the China Coal Industry Association, China produced 1.7 billion tons of coal in 2003, 20 per cent above the industry's supposed production capacity. In 2004, the national output of coal surged to nearly 2 billion tons.

Problems with coal mining safety are found even in Beijing, the national capital. According to municipal officials, 367 privately owned mines are operating in Mentougou and Fangshan districts on the city's western suburbs. Just in first six months of 2004, inspectors from the Beijing Municipal Coal Mine Safety Bureau found 438 "hidden safety hazards" in these mines.

The bureau has decided to shut down all small, poorly equipped mines by 2010.

Back in Da'anshan, the decision is taken with a grain of salt. There are 22 licensed private mines here, along with scores more producing without licences. According to Qi Xiaoqiang, the head of Da'anshan Village, 95 per cent of the people in the village -- that is 6,000 -- live directly or indirectly on coal mining, in addition to hundreds of "migrant workers" like Wei Guangxiang.

Nestled deep in picturesque hills, this and other villages are advised to go in for tourism or crop farming to make up for the losses. "The problem is that we have an acute water shortage," Qi says.

"Two large State-owned coal mines have been operating in the area for decades, and have virtually exhausted the underground water resources.

"Coal mining is indeed our lifeline," Qi concedes, noting that every year, the village has had to spend 20,000 yuan (US$2,409) to buy drinking water, and the money to do that comes from mining. Besides, he says, the road that makes the village accessible to the outside world was built with 2 million yuan (US$240,963) in donation from mine operators.

The case of Da'anshan is by no means exceptional. There are 139 licensed mines in Fangshan District, and mining is the lifeline of eight villages, including Da'anshan. Liu Jicheng, an official with the Fangshan Work Safety Bureau, estimates that their annual output of coal could total 8 million tons.

Zhou notes the dilemma is found everywhere. He cites the example of Shanxi Province in North China, the country's largest coal centre. "Up to 80 per cent of the counties in the province depend on coal mining for local government revenues," he says.

The professor proposes mergers of small, privately owned mines into State-owned corporations, not only for production safety but also for higher efficiency and profitability.

He also calls for increasing the number of mine safety inspectors. "We have no more than 2,700 such inspectors right now," he notes. "The number should be doubled or even quadrupled."

Besides, he believes that governments should encourage miners to protect their own rights to safety while punishing those responsible for mining accidents. "After all, it is the miners who know best what is wrong with the mines," he says.

"We should encourage them to expose the problems."

In Beijing, authorities are determined to solve the problem of smaller, unsafe mines once and for all by moving out people in places like Da'anshan and resettling them in places more suitable for farming. This will be done in step with closing down of those small mines.

At Da'anshan, each villager, or permanent resident, will receive compensation of 14,000 yuan (US$1,686) for moving out, local government claims.

Wei Guangxiang, however, hasn't heard of the news. "My only wish now is to stay and make money, so that my son will finish his primary and secondary education in Beijing, and enter a college if all goes well," he says.

(China Daily April 6, 2005)