Buying a Passage in Henan's Coal Industry

Coal-mining is a dangerous business. Add in the combination of millions of yuan in bribes for licenses, conflicts of interest, blind regulatory agencies and cover-ups of disasters become ordinary occurrences in the industry.

Hiding details behind a deadly mine explosion in 2005 which killed 34 people, Li Yongxin and Li Jiucheng, both from Nanyang, Henan Province and graduates of the Jiaozuo Institute of Mines, later wound up in senior leadership positions at Henan's provincial Safety Supervision Bureau (SSB).