Tim Wright - The Political Economy of the Chinese Coal Industry: Black Gold and Blood-Stained Coal

The Political Economy of the Chinese Coal Industry

Coal mining is one of Chinas largest industries, and provides an excellent case study through which to consider the broader issues of Chinas transition from socialism to capitalism, focusing on the shift to a market economy, the rise of rural industry and the situation of Chinas working class.

Coal was one of the pillars of the planned economy but, the author argues, its shift to market-based operations has been protracted and difficult, particularly in moving from the artificially low prices of the planned economy to marketprescribed prices a change that had a major impact on the industrys financial performance.

The book goes on to consider the growth of small rural coal mines as part of the Township and Village Enterprises (TVEs) programme; these small mines have brought prosperity to areas where small manufacturing enterprises are not competitive, but at the same time have been the cause of many social and environmental problems. It also examines the situation of coal miners arguably among the most vulnerable members of the Chinese working class under both socialism and capitalism, paying particular attention to the issue of work safety and coal mine disasters.

The book provides a comprehensive and coherent treatment of these issues from the establishment of the Peoples Republic up to 2010.

Tim Wright is Emeritus Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Sheffield, UK. He is author of Coal Mining in Chinas Economy and Society, 18951937.

Routledge Studies on the Chinese Economy

Series Editor

Peter Nolan, Sinyi Professor, Judge Business School, Chair, Development Studies, University of Cambridge

Founding Series Editors

Peter Nolan, University of Cambridge and Dong Fureng, Beijing University

The aim of this series is to publish original, high-quality, research-level work by both new and established scholars in the West and the East, on all aspects of the Chinese economy, including studies of business and economic history.

1 The Growth of Market Relations in Post-reform Rural China

A Micro-Analysis of Peasants, Migrants and Peasant Entrepreneurs
Hiroshi Sato

2 The Chinese Coal Industry

An Economic History
Elspeth Thomson

3 Sustaining Chinas Economic Growth in the Twenty-first Century

Edited by Shujie Yao and Xiaming Liu

4 Chinas Poor Regions

RuralUrban Migration, Poverty, Economic Reform and Urbanisation
Mei Zhang

5 Chinas Large Enterprises and the Challenge of Late Industrialization

Dylan Sutherland

6 Chinas Economic Growth

Yanrui Wu

7 The Employment Impact of Chinas World Trade Organisation Accession

A.S. Bhalla and S. Qiu

8 Catch-up and Competitiveness in China

The Case of Large Firms in the Oil Industry

Jin Zhang

9 Corporate Governance in China

Jian Chen

10 The Theory of the Firm and Chinese Enterprise Reform

The Case of China International Trust and Investment Corporation

Qin Xiao

11 Globalisation, Transition and Development in China

The Case of the Coal Industry
Huaichuan Rui

12 China along the Yellow River

Reflections on Rural Society

Cao Jinqing, translated by Nicky Harman and Huang Ruhua

13 Economic Growth, Income Distribution and Poverty Reduction in Contemporary China

Shujie Yao

14 Chinas Economic Relations with the West and Japan, 194979

Grain, Trade and Diplomacy

Chad J. Mitcham

15 Chinas Industrial Policy and the Global Business Revolution

The Case of the Domestic Appliance Industry

Ling Liu

16 Managers and Mandarins in Contemporary China

The Building of an International Business Alliance

Jie Tang

17 The Chinese Model of Modern Development

Edited by Tian Yu Cao

18 Chinese Citizenship

Views from the Margins

Edited by Vanessa L. Fong and Rachel Murphy

19 Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty in Urban China

Edited by Shi Li and Hiroshi Sato

20 Globalisation, Competition and Growth in China

Edited by Jian Chen and Shujie Yao

21 The Chinese Communist Party in Reform

Edited by Kjeld Erik Brodsgaard and Zheng Yongnian

22 Poverty and Inequality among Chinese Minorities

A.S. Bhalla and Shufang Qiu

23 Economic and Social Transformation in China

Challenges and Opportunities Angang Hu

24 Global Big Business and the Chinese Brewing Industry

Yuantao Guo

25 Peasants and Revolution in Rural China

Rural Political Change in the North China Plain and the Yangzi Delta, 18501949

Chang Liu

26 The Chinese Banking Industry

Lessons from History for Todays Challenges

Yuanyuan Peng

27 Informal Institutions and Rural Development in China

Biliang Hu

28 The Political Future of Hong Kong

Democracy within Communist China
Kit Poon

29 Chinas Post-Reform Economy

Achieving Harmony, Sustaining Growth

Edited by Richard Sanders and Chen Yang

30 Eliminating Poverty through Development in China

China Development Research Foundation

31 Good Governance in China

A Way towards Social Harmony: Case Studies by Chinas Rising Leaders

Edited by Wang Mengkui

32 China in the Wake of Asias Financial Crisis

Edited by Wang Mengkui

33 Multinationals, Globalisation and Indigenous Firms in China

Chunhang Liu

34 Economic Convergence in Greater China

Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan

Chun Kwok Lei and Shujie Yao

35 Financial Sector Reform and the International Integration of China

Zhongmin Wu

36 China in the World Economy

Zhongmin Wu

37 Chinas Three Decades of Economic Reforms

Edited by Xiaohui Liu and Wei Zhang

38 Chinas Development Challenges

Economic Vulnerability and Public Sector Reform

Richard Schiere

39 Chinas Rural Financial System

Households Demand for Credit and Recent Reforms

Yuepeng Zhao

40 Sustainable Reform and Development in Post-Olympic China

Edited by Shujie Yao, Bin Wu, Stephen Morgan and Dylan Sutherland

41 Constructing a Developmental Social Welfare System for All

China Development Research Foundation

42 Chinas Road to Peaceful Rise

Observations on its Cause, Basis, Connotation and Prospect

Zheng Bijian

43 China as the Workshop of the World

An Analysis at the National and Industry Level of China in the International Division of Labor Yuning Gao

44 Chinas Role in Global Economic Recovery

Xiaolan Fu

45 The Political Economy of the Chinese Coal Industry

Black Gold and Blood-stained Coal
Tim Wright

Routledge Studies on the Chinese Economy Chinese Economists on Economic Reform

1 Chinese Economists on Economic Reform: Collected Works of Xue Muqiao

Xue Muqiao, edited by China Development Research Foundation

2 Chinese Economists on Economic Reform: Collected Works of Guo Shuqing

Guo Shuqing, edited by China Development Research Foundation

The Political Economy of the Chinese Coal Industry