User:Kersen1528/Coal in China

Coal is what Chinese call “the burning sun” because it provides warmth to people in the North. China uses more coal than the rest of the world combined and due to its geographic location, there are a lot of coal mines in China, especially in Shanxi Province. Coal industry is the main contributor for air pollution in China, but Chinese need coal for cooking and economic development. There are a lot of coal industries working in China that provide a lot of job opportunities. When China joined the WTO in 2001, it’s coal consumption went up by three times. 58% of the coal was still used for energy consumption in the year of 2019. “China has pledged that its emissions will peak around 2030, but that high-water mark would still mean that the country is generating huge quantities CO2 — 12.9 billion to 14.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually for the next decade, or as much as 15 percent per year above 2015 levels”

History:
There is a record about coal in the Classic of the Mountains and Seas: West of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, which says, "Three hundred miles southwest, it is called the mountain of Female bed, and its yang is rich in red copper, and its yin is more stone nirvana." The mountain of the Female bed is today's Shanxi, and then Stone nirvana is coal. The artisanal coal industry was established in the Han Dynasty. It is recorded in Sima Qian's historical records (Shiji) that Dou Guangdou was digging for his boss and more than a hundred people were killed when a coal mine collapsed, but only Dou Guangduo Survived. Yiyang, today's Yiyang County, Henan Province, was the place that Dou Guangguo went to and the coal company he worked at today's Yimei Coal Company. This showed how dangerous coal mining was during the Han dynasty and Dou Guangguo was the first miner in Chinese history with the name shown in record.

In the late Ming Dynasty, Song Yingxing mentioned how to mine, look for ore, and prevent coal mines from collapsing in his Tiangong Kaiwu. He wrote that If the coal is used up, then buried in the soil, the coal will grow on its own after 20 years, and it will not be used up. Until 1271 AD, the famous traveler and businessman Macro Polo followed his father and uncle along the silk road, arrived Daduo of the Yuan dynasty after four years and became an official of the Yuan dynasty. During the 17 years in China, he has been to most of the places in China. When he returned to his hometown, he wrote about coal in his The Travels of Marco Polo. Macro Polo said: "There is a black stone in China that can burn like firewood but can last longer than firewood, it can go from day to night"

In the 19th Century, the main concern for the Qing dynasty was to mine coal because that was the most important thing to made China into an industrialized country. The reason why the Qing dynasty wanted China to be developed was that Qing dynasty got problems from economic and political factors such as internal rebellion, foreign imperialist attack and natural disaster. In the late 19 century, the Chinese elites consider coal as an expensive source of nature. In 1920, Sun Yat-sen wrote China has a great amount of coal, but coalfields have not been used at all. In the International Development of China, Sun Yat-sen encouraged people to use coal commonly, because it is the property of China. In 1870, Ferdinand von Richthofen, a famous German geographer, stated that by what he saw in China, and the consumption rate of coal. Just Shanxi province can support the use of the coal in the world for a thousand years.

“For the nineteenth century, fossil fuels replaced wood as the dominant form of energy used in human society. Contemporary observers noted the importance of coal to the vast economic transformations then taking place, as well as its less desirable environmental effects. The Chinese had long used coal extensively for smelting and heating in the north, but the first modern industrial enterprises in the late nineteenth century created new demand and use for a familiar fuel. In ways similar to European empires and the United States, the Qing adapted to the age of imperialism by reforming their legal code, educational system, and, more fundamentally, their worldview on the exploitation of natural resources. Hartwell's research showed the extensive exploitation and use of coal for heating and metallurgy by the eleventh century. Late imperial officials subscribing to a statecraft school of governance also emphasized mining as an important way to foster economic development. What changed in the nineteenth century was the perception, put into circulation by Ferdinand von Richthofen and those who followed him in the geological exploration of China, that coal was not only essential for industrialization but also a measure of a country’s standing in the world.”

Production:
China is the largest coal producer and consumer in the world. “China produced 3.84 billion tonnes of coal in 2020, its highest output since 2015 and growth of 90 million tonnes from the year before. However, last year’s coal output was below the peak of 3.97 billion tonnes reached in 2013. The country imported 304 million tonnes of coal in 2020, up 4 million tonnes from a year earlier. China can produce most of the coal it needs. However, it imports coal to supplement domestic supply and to access higher quality coking coal for steelmaking. In 2019, China produced about 3.7 billion tonnes of coal and imported 300 million tonnes, according to pricing and research group Fastmarkets.”

Coal Imports VS. Exports
China banned importing coal from Australia and Australia's coking coal price decreased compared with last year. China's coking coal price increased since the ban started, and the United States' coking coal price was higher than Australia's because the distance was farther. Mongolia became the largest coal supplier of China. Mongolia's coking coal price might get increased by its import taxes and duties. China has turned its view to different countries to replace the position of Australia, which was Indonesia, and bought more coal from Russia and South Africa.

China banned importing coal from Australia and Australia's coking coal price decreased compared with last year. China's coking coal price increased since the ban started, and the United States' coking coal price was higher than Australia's because the distance was farther. Mongolia became the largest coal supplier of China. Mongolia's coking coal price might get increased by its import taxes and duties. China has turned its view to different countries to replace the position of Australia, which was Indonesia, and bought more coal from Russia and South Africa.

Coal Price:
The import price (000t) for steam coal in November 2019 was 5,265 yuan; coking coal price was 6,204 yuan; anthracite was 478 yuan; brown coal was 6,686 yuan; other coal price was 2,436 yuan. Compared with 2018, steam coal increased 14%; coking coal increased 16%; anthracite decreased 46%; brown coal increased 11%; other coal decreased 15%. The coke prices in Shanxi and Jiexiu were 1,650 yuan on 16 December; coke prices in Hebei and Tangshan were 1,850 yuan on 16 December. The coal stocks showed that for power plants in December 2019 was 81.55 mt and December 2018 was 81.41mt. The producer in December 2019 was 91.58 mt and 79.5 mt in December 2019.

The Harm of Coal:
The weather in Shanxi in 2004 was dark with the coal plant working every day. People said that the weather was like this all year long and they did not wear masks. 88.4 % of stream segments are polluted and 62% of segments are dysfunctional. Trees died, fishes died, and the water is black like a dead city. Many first-tier cities have the same experience with Shanxi that Beijing, Tianjin, Chengdu, Shenyang, etc... that on average pollution lasted for more than half a year. When people breathe in polluted air, it can impact the respiratory system and increase inflammation in the airway. With a large amount of PM 2.5 that our body cannot consume, the human immune system starts to decrease and cause many diseases. The increase of PM 2.5 also increases the death rate and affects newborn babies. We do not have a lot of experience with pollution around the 1980s, but development is the most important factor for a country which is why coal was brought to China and why people need coal for heat even though the smoke causes choking. 60% of PM 2.5 in China from coal and gas combustion burnt up more coal than the total of all other countries. Even though there are some improper procedures in the coal factories, no one is willing to take charge of this because more than a hundred thousand workers will lose their job if the factory is shut down.

Use:
China ranks first in the use of coal in the world, that in 2016, China consumes 4,319,921,826 tons of coal per year as of the year 2016.

Household Use:
Even though some areas in China are turning urban, there are still many residents still living in the village and still use coal as the main source for heat and cooking. In 2003 approximately 80% of the energy consumed by rural households was in the form of biomass and almost 10% as coal. China is trying to decrease the use of coal and promote the electric way of cooking, but still many families rely on coal. Coal is the main reason for air pollution and the cause for health is that, especially when people burn coal in a room without ventilation, that will cause toxicity. “It is well known that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are formed during incomplete combustion of all carbon-based fuels, including wood and coal. Lower molecular-weight PAHs (with two to four aromatic rings) are present predominantly in the gas phase, whereas higher molecular weight PAHs are present predominantly in the particle phase. Because carcinogenic PAHs, especially benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), a 5-ring PAH of high cancer potency, are predominantly present in the particle phase, particles emitted from household coal combustion have been subjected to compositional analysis of PAHs and PAH derivatives." These analyses show that particles will be exiting in the air when residents burn coal at home. When they breathe in the air, the chance of them getting cancer will be higher than other people. Many coals contain intrinsic contaminants such as sulfur, arsenic, silica, fluorine, lead, mercury. These intrinsic contaminants will stay in the air and will transfer to other areas followed by the wind. This is why people don't see coal firms but do smell the choking smoke.

China's Coal Industry Chain:
There are three parts of China's coal industry chain, the first one is coal suppliers. This includes explosion machines and the manufacturers of coal mine machinery and equipment. The second part is the production of coal, coal mining, and clean coal technology. The third part is rail transport and waterway transport.

Upstream Analysis:
This part is the blast of coal, 24 percent of the explosive will be used for coal mining. blasting equipment related to the country's security issue so there are limited explosives to transport. There are different kinds of machinery used for coal mining, for example, caterpillar, coal winning machine, conveyors, and hydraulic support.

Downstream Analysis:
China's coal transport is the north's coal will transport to the south and west's coal will transfer from the east. More people use coal in the west and north because of its weather and geographic location.

For rail transport, most of the coal came from Shanxi province, Shaanxi province and west are in inner Mongolia. 75% of the coal was from these three areas in 2016, the roads were Beitong Road, Nantong Road, and Zhongtong Road. Beitong Road transported thermal coal from northern Shanxi and northern Shaanxi to the harbors in Tianjin, Jingtang, Qinhuangdao, and Huanghua. Zhongtong Road transported coking coal and anthracite from central Shanxi province and east Shanxi province toward harbors in Huadong, central south areas, and Qingdao. Nantong Road transported coking coal and anthracite from northern Shaanxi province, central Shanxi province, Shendong colliery toward harbors in Rizhao and Yungang. There are two types of waterway transport: maritime transport and inland water transportation.

Maritime transport is identified as loading port and discharge port. The major loading ports are from the " North Seven Harbors' ' which are Qinhuang Harbor, Tianjin Harbor, Huanghua Harbor, Tangshan Harbor, Qingdao Harbor, Rizhao Harbor, and Lianyun Harbor. The discharge port is major around the harbors in Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, east-south coastal areas, and west-north coastal areas.

Inland water transportation is Jing–Hang Grand Canal and Yangtze trunk. The Yangtze trunk transported coal from northern areas to Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, and Jiangxi, etc. Jing-Hang Grand Canal transported coal from south-western Shandong areas in East China.

The major demand for coal will be used for chemical engineering, building materials, electric power, and steel. In 2018, 59% of coal used for electric power, 17.4% of coal used for steel, 14% of coal used for building materials, 7.9% of coal used for chemical engineering, and 1.7% of coal used for others.

Carbon Footprint:
China's CO2 emission increased after it joined the WTO but the United States, Germany and Japan's CO2 emission decreased. Tian and Xu have found out that the major export boom for China was electronic machinery and ordinary machinery. "This result was puzzling, as it is generally believed that China's comparative advantage resides in labor-intensive technologies, and labor-intensive industries should be the ones to reap the greatest benefit from free trade. Tian and Xu provided a reasonable explanation by calculating the carbon footprint of all major export industries. They found that China's leading export industries, electronic machinery, and ordinary machinery, also led the economy in carbon footprints. If carbon footprints are an indicator of the intensity of use of environmental inputs, then the free use of environmental inputs, such as air and water, could explain the rise of these mid-level capital-intensive sectors in export”

The Life of Coal Miner:
Miners always appear black from their faces, hands, and clothes, but what is actually the work environment for miners? There are more than a million coal miners in China, but every year thousands of coal miners die from their dangers because of coal mine collapse and breathing in too much dust. These miners work in an enclosed environment and a high percentage of them will get lung disease. There is also an accident of falling out and becoming a disability, which might not get any subsidies from firms. Most of the miners are from poverty families, so most of them don't have insurance and with low pay. From 2006, the number of coal mining accidents decreased because the Chinese government paid more attention to miners' safety. The Chinese government is working hard to change the working environment and safety of coal mining and the local government will send people to see if these coal firms followed the rule or not.

When miners worked underground, they had to finish what they needed underground. This included eating, drinking, and going to the restroom because it is not easy to go up when they are underground. They had to work eight hours a day or longer. They worked in the dark and wet, some of them had to bow their keep or sit on the ground to work. Imagine living in a small dark hole and the only light was from your helmet. The air was not good and there was noise underground, the living conditions were also not good. Many of them have lived in a small dorm with more than four people, it depended on the company. Going back home and finishing their work that day might be one of the happiest things for them because it means they can go back home to see their family members. Finishing their work the day means they survived from its dangerous working condition. Miners feel upset when seeing a colleague passed away during a gas leak, blast, or colliery collapse, they don't know when they will be next, maybe today or tomorrow, the next minute or second. The work hour for a miner was shift work, the first shift started from 8 A.M to 4 P.M., the second shift started from 4 P.M. to 12 A.M. and the third shift started from 12 A.M. to 8 A.M. For these miners that went to the first shift, they woke up at 5 A.M. to have breakfast, take a showered to exchange work coveralls because working underground required specific work coverall. They have to put on a security cap, dust mask, and galoshes that are high to the knee. They started their way to the underground around 7:30 A.M. and arrived at 8 A.M.They exchanged their work with the third shift group and miners usually got hungry before noon because they had breakfast early. The only thing they could do was wait until noon and someone brought down their lunch. They continued their work after lunch and worked until 4 P.M. They have to report their work before going home, and when they got back home it was around 6 P.M. Most of them will sleep after dinner because they need rest.

List of Accidents and Death:
Benxihu colliery disaster, also called Honkeiko colliery that was a China and Japan corporate company. Honkeiko was a Japanese name, the Benxihu colliery disaster happened in Benxi, Liaoning of China on April 26 1942. 1942 was the year during the Sino-Japanese War, so this colliery was under Japanese control. These miners were forced to work, wore tattered clothes, walked barefoot, limited food provided, and disease was spread in camp. More than 1500 miners die during this accident because of explosive gases in an enclosed environment.

The Laobaidong Colliery Disaster happened on May 9 1960 in Shanxi province of China that more than six hundred people died from the explosion of methane.

In February of 2009, at least 77 miners died from a gas explosion in northern China. More than 350 miners survived from this accident, the reason for this explosion was negligence. In April of 2009, a coal flood killed seven miners in northern China, and on July 12 2009, miners were trapped for 25 days in a flooded mine. Three of the miners were saved after 25 days, one miner died, and still looking for the other 12 miners. On November 21 2009, a gas explosion in northern China caused at least 42 miners to die and 66 trapped. A day later, more than a hundred miners died, when the gas exploded, 528 miners were working underground and 400 of the miners were able to escape.

On June 21 2010, there were 72 miners trapped, 26 of them escaped and 46 were killed in Henan. On July 18 2010, a coal mine fire in Shanxi Province killed 28 workers. On August 2, 2010, a gas leak at the coal mine killed seven people. On August 3, 15 miners were killed and one was missing during an explosion at Guizhou province. On the same day, one person died in a coal mine in Yunnan province. On August 5, 16 miners died because of a gas leak. In October, a gas leak had caused 37 people to die in Central China. 239 people escaped but still more than 276 were underground. China closed 1335 small coal mines in 2010, which was to reduce emission of greenhouse gas. On October 27, 2010, 12 miners were killed by an illegally operated mine in Guizhou province by flood. On November 21, 29 people were trapped underground by flood and 13 of them were unable to escape. This colliery was redesigned and annual output increased from 10000 tons to 60000 tons. On December 7, an explosion in Henan caused 26 people to die and the manager escaped. On July 11 2011, three died in a coal mine rescue and 21 people were trapped in the other colliery within the same area. On August 25, 26 miners were trapped in the north by flood. This colliery was illegal in Heilongjiang province and three people died in the flood. On August 29, a coal mine in Sichuan province caused ten people to die in flood and two people missing.

Cut Coal and Green Growth:
As air pollution gets worse in China, the Chinese government starts to consider all kinds of policies to help reduce carbon emissions. This is a big challenge to decision-makers because it is hard to handle between economics and the environment. China's growth model seems to be steady-state and the country is seeking low carbon and a green growth path to fixing the environment. As China becomes the largest CO2 emission of the world and potential output of global warming should take attention. The Chinese government's goal is to reach WHO's standard in 2050 including environmental improvement. To save energy, improve on renewable energy and control major emission pollution will improve the ecological environment.

China and the United States have the same landmass but China's population is larger than the United States, so the need for electricity will be larger in China. This is not an easy thing for China, which needs to create a new kind of technology to decrease the use of coal and reduce carbon emissions. There are many coal firms that were shut down in China because governors forced them to close. There are still many coal firms out there and it is impossible to just shut down all the coal firms in China because many people will lose their jobs and GDP will decrease. Economic growth is still the top priority of China, which China still needs coal to maintain the economic growth so that China will not be abandoning coal right away. China will step by step solving this problem, in order to reach its goal.

"Beijing is stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, China cannot eradicate coal-fired power from its energy mix overnight. China has not yet figured out how to develop its own natural gas supplies—which are more difficult to access and therefore more expensive than those in the United States—and renewable energy expansion takes time. On the other hand, Chinese citizens are demanding cleaner air, and they want immediate improvements. Air quality is now a political priority for the Chinese Communist Party on par with economic growth and corruption. This means that China cannot continue to run the same high-pollution coal plants that were considered acceptable decades ago. Beijing’s solution is to move full speed ahead with renewables while simultaneously investing in what may become the most efficient, least polluting coal fleet the world has ever seen"

“Developing cheap solar and wind energy to replace fossil energy has become the core energy strategy of China to reduce air pollution,” says Hong Li, a researcher who works on solid-state lithium batteries at the Key Laboratory for Renewable Energy in Beijing, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Physics. Hong Li, who is involved in developing nationwide plans for new energy technologies, also points out that the levels of electricity generated by renewable sources — which vary with the amount of sun or wind — can be less consistent than those from fossil-fuelled power plants”

The Decline of Coal Industry:
As people pay more attention to the climate crisis and health, the country started to decrease the use of coal in order to fix the environment. The decline of the coal industry is not far away, people are tired of smelling chock smoke and the negative effect of burning coal. This relates to the future society, next-generation, and health concerns in the world. If coal continues, the weather will get darker in the daytime and Particulate Matter 2.5 will increase too. Even if the use of coal did not cut, coal mining will get harder because some coal mines have already reached underground for more than 1000 meters. This means more technology and people will be used for coal mining.

When the revenue is lower than the cost, it is hard to continue, especially when the government starts to deal with air pollution. This will make the whole coal industry walking harder, and around 2 million miners will lose their jobs from 2013 to 2020. Where these 2 million go was a problem, especially many of them were over age 45 and with junior high education. It's hard for them to enter a new job position and it is hard to return back to the golden era of the coal industry. The government subside will not support long for these companies, so many of the companies have to lower worker's house and pay. Many coal firms have turned parts of their business to invest in wind power plants, in order to maintain firms going.