During these golden years, the Chenghe Mining Bureau increased investment in the facilities for miners’ families living in Chengcheng County. Cross the patchy deserts that separate the yellow soils of Shaanxi province from the Mongolian steppe, completing your journey in the sandy plains of the Ordos Plateau. [45] All of them have been closed as of March 2019. The closure of about 1,000 dangerous small mines in 2008 helped to cut in half the average number of miners killed, to about six a day, in the first six months of 2009, according to the government. After decades of turbulence, it finally seemed that Chinese coal had entered its golden age, and for miners around the country this meant a huge jump in wages. Miners are drawn to the OBU because of the deepening economic crisis.Source: Glenbow Archives, NA-2513-1, Newcastle Mine in the Drumheller mining district after ten years of expansion, 1921; Drumheller is one of thirty-two districts created to facilitate keeping track of the booming industry’s developments, inspections and infrastructure requirements.Source: Provincial Archives of Alberta, A6081, A view of the booming International Coal and Coke Company Ltd. at Coleman, ca. Against the backdrop of plummeting coal prices around the country, the Hongliulin mine in Shenmu County, 500 kilometers north of Chengcheng County, managed to turn a profit in the year 2015, according to the mine’s head of publicity Wang Zejun. * Scholars say China first began burning coal for heat, cooking and smelting steel during the Han dynasty (beginning in 206 BC). As coal is taken as to key primary energy in China and Shanxi is the main production province of China's coal (Zhang et al., 2016b), coal demand can be expressed by industrial added value, which represents the state of the country's industrial development. Small illegal fires are frequent in the northern region of Shanxi. The coal industry in Chinagoes back many centuries. China’s pledge at the Paris Climate Change Conference in November 2015 suggests that saying a final farewell to coal remains a real possibility. "Why Has China Overinvested in Coal Power?" Coal power is distributed by the State Power Grid Corporation. Most of these fires were caused by bad mining practices combined with bad weather. This move also launched unprecedented industrial development. [56] Since 1949 over 250,000 coal mining deaths have been recorded[when?]. According to statistics released by the National Energy Administration, in 2015 the country’s total grid capacity for wind and solar energy reached 186 million and 40 million megawatt-hours respectively, increases of 21 percent and 57 percent on the previous year. Despite central government attempts to clamp down on construction and shifting demand in the market to renewable, nuclear and natural gas sources, 135 GW of coal-power capacity was either permitted or under construction in China according to a US-based NGO in January 2020. Technologies exist to improve indoor air quality, notably the installation of a chimney and modernized bioenergy but need more support to make a larger difference. Though in decline, the mining industry continues to make its mark on the land and its people. . After graduating, Liu joined the same mine as his father, though his duties as an electrician required more technical expertise than his father’s role as a low-level miner. [44], China decided to close the last four coal-fired power and heating plants out of Beijing's municipal area, replacing them with gas-fired power plants, in an effort to improve air quality in the capital. * 1931: Japan invades and occupies northeast China, seizing the region’s coal mines and steel mills.