{"id":306,"date":"2010-04-11T16:20:38","date_gmt":"2010-04-11T08:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mdnphoto.com\/blog\/?p=306"},"modified":"2010-04-11T16:20:38","modified_gmt":"2010-04-11T08:20:38","slug":"another-shanxi-coal-mining-disaster-for-the-wall-street-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/2010\/04\/11\/another-shanxi-coal-mining-disaster-for-the-wall-street-journal\/","title":{"rendered":"Shanxi Coal Mining Disaster for the Wall Street Journal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster01.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-320\" title=\"A small photo of Shi Weike rests on a bed in their one-room home.\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster01.jpg\" alt=\"A small photo of Shi Weike rests on a bed in their one-room home.\" width=\"950\" height=\"633\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"paragraph\">\n<p>This past weekend I embarked on a very intense assignments. Working with the potentially bereaved wife of a Shanxi coal miner, Shi Weike, only a week after a major mining incident was delicate work to say the least. Shi Weike moved between different jobs in rural Shanxi before taking up the dangerous but relatively lucrative position as an electrician in the Wangjialing coal mine. Coal is big business in the mineral rich but relatively poor province and provided Shi Weike with steady income to support his wife, Guo Qinqin, and daughter, Shi Rongrong. However, on the morning of March 28, the main shaft of the Wangjialing coal mine flooded when workers accidentally broke into an abandoned shaft filled with water. Although over a hundred miners were miraculously rescued over a week after the flooding, the fate of Shi Weike looked dark as the government still refused to list the names of the survivors and deceased. His uncle, Yang Shirong, faced the task of consoling Guo Qinqin who after two-weeks of waiting is began to lose hope for her husbands&#8217;s survival. Every day she stayed in bed and took an intravenous glucose drip due to her inability to eat. Shi Rongrong, her six-year-old daughter, was also not informed of the possible loss of her father. Like many other coal mining families Quo Qinqin will now have to seek compensation from the government in order to support her family. Coal miners die on an average of seven per day in Shanxi as safety regulations continue to be overlooked across the province. Taking the photos of Guo Qinqin on her mourning bed was one of the toughest things I have had to capture in my life. You can see the <a title=\"A Shared Vein of Danger\" href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB10001424052702304703104575174011644056810.html\" target=\"_blank\">article<\/a> and <a title=\"A Shared Vein of Danger\" href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB10001424052702304703104575174011644056810.html#project%3DSLIDESHOW08%26s%3DSB10001424052702304222504575174401819040216%26articleTabs%3Dslideshow\" target=\"_blank\">slideshow<\/a> online at the Wall Street Journal website.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster02.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster02.jpg\" alt=\"Yang Shirong follows the television closely at home for more news regarding the Wangjialing mining accident.\" title=\"Yang Shirong follows the television closely at home for more news regarding the Wangjialing mining accident.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntriplel size-full wp-image-307\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster03.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster03.jpg\" alt=\"A rescue worker chats on his cell phone overlooking the Wangjialing coal mine.\" title=\"A rescue worker chats on his cell phone overlooking the Wangjialing coal mine.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntriplec size-full wp-image-308\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster04.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster04.jpg\" alt=\"Shi Weike&#039;s daughter, Shi Rongrong, eats a steamed bun in their one-room home.\" title=\"Shi Weike&#039;s daughter, Shi Rongrong, eats a steamed bun in their one-room home.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntripler size-full wp-image-309\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster05.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster05.jpg\" alt=\"Most houses in Shanxi keep large piles of coal outside their doors for heating and cooking.\" title=\"Most houses in Shanxi keep large piles of coal outside their doors for heating and cooking.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntriplel size-full wp-image-310\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster06.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster06.jpg\" alt=\"Shi Weike&#039;s wife, Guo Qinqin, hasn&#039;t eaten in three days and lies motionless on her bed next to her cell phone with an intravenous glucose drip in her arm.\" title=\"Shi Weike&#039;s wife, Guo Qinqin, hasn&#039;t eaten in three days and lies motionless on her bed next to her cell phone with an intravenous glucose drip in her arm.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntriplec size-full wp-image-311\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster13.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster13.jpg\" alt=\"Two rescue workers take a break from the taxing work involved in the recovery operation at Wangjialing coal mine.\" title=\"Two rescue workers take a break from the taxing work involved in the recovery operation at Wangjialing coal mine.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntripler size-full wp-image-318\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster08.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster08.jpg\" alt=\"Yang Shirong and Shi Weike&#039;s father stand in front of their traditional Shanxi cave dwelling.\" title=\"Yang Shirong and Shi Weike&#039;s father stand in front of their traditional Shanxi cave dwelling.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntriplel size-full wp-image-313\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster09.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster09.jpg\" alt=\"Public Security Bureau officers march through the Wangjialing coal mine, nearly two weeks after the blast.\" title=\"Public Security Bureau officers march through the Wangjialing coal mine, nearly two weeks after the blast.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntriplec size-full wp-image-314\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster10.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster10.jpg\" alt=\"People loiter outside the Wangjialing coal mine.\" title=\"People loiter outside the Wangjialing coal mine.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntripler size-full wp-image-315\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster11.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster11.jpg\" alt=\"Shi Weike&#039;s brother-in-law sits patiently at hand, waiting for final word on his fate.\" title=\"Shi Weike&#039;s brother-in-law sits patiently at hand, waiting for final word on his fate.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntriplel size-full wp-image-316\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster12.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster12.jpg\" alt=\"A coal mine sits nestled in the hills of Shanxi.\" title=\"A coal mine sits nestled in the hills of Shanxi.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntriplec size-full wp-image-317\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster07.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/20100409_shanxi_coal_mine_disaster07.jpg\" alt=\"Shi Weike&#039;s identification card sits on a table above a drawer filled with personal objects.\" title=\"Shi Weike&#039;s identification card sits on a table above a drawer filled with personal objects.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligntripler size-full wp-image-312\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This past weekend I embarked on a very intense assignments. Working with the potentially bereaved wife of a Shanxi coal miner, Shi Weike, only a week after a major mining incident was delicate work to say the least. Shi Weike moved between different jobs in rural Shanxi before taking up the dangerous but relatively lucrative [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[61,79,91,120,127,144,309,316,334,344],"class_list":["post-306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-society_category","tag-business","tag-china","tag-coal","tag-death","tag-disaster","tag-energy","tag-photography","tag-poverty","tag-rural","tag-shanxi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthewniederhauser.com\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}