Shanxi Huang Jia Po is a village on the edge. For centuries, 500 farmers have lived here, carving stepped fields into the side of their mountain and planting corn, marrows and aubergines in the fertile yellow soil that covers Shanxi province.

But the children of the farmers will have to live somewhere else, because it is only a matter of time before the village falls into the honeycomb of mining tunnels below. Standing in his courtyard, Lu Linhu points to a 30ft deep hole that has opened up in the cement outside his front door. Behind him, wide cracks have appeared in the walls and ceiling of his bedroom. The 38-year-old Mr Lu, like many other villagers, has used gaudy posters to cover the holes and ease his state of mind.

“We cannot really sleep properly any more,” he said. “At night, we can feel the shaking of the ground when they use dynamite in the mine. And when it rains, the water comes flooding in through the cracks.

“We have sent our children away to live near their school, but when they come to visit I feel extra nervous, in case the roof collapses.” […]

At the top of the mountain, miners said they were pulling 900,000 tons of coal a year from the ground. “Why would we stop? There is still coal underneath,” one shrugged.

Residents do receive some compensation but, as in the case of dam relocations elsewhere, it does not cover the full cost of the move.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month on the relocation of a mining town in the Swedish Arctic to allow the extraction of iron ore, much of it bound for China. In contrast with resettlements in China, however, development plans even take into account the migratory habits of local reindeer.

“We knew we didn’t really have a choice,” says Ann Catrin Fredriksson, municipal director of urban planning and environment. “And this is a company town, so there was no opposition.” […]

Kiruna is a remarkable place. Temperatures are 40 degrees below zero in the winter. A favorite snack is smoked reindeer wrapped in a sort of pita bread. “Not a great place to find a nice suit, but if you’re shopping for a drill that can operate 300 feet underground, you’re in luck,” says Anders Holstenson, an LKAB employee and mine tour guide ….

“We don’t really know where the church is going yet,” says Pastor Lise-Lott Wikolm, “but it shouldn’t be too difficult. It’s made of wood, you can just pick apart the pieces and put them together again.”

Relocation is not an option for the 5th Century Buddhist monastery in Afghanistan which faces destruction to make way for a Chinese-run copper mine. Archaeologists are working against an unknown deadline to salvage as many of the site’s relics as possible before the miners move in.

Sources:

China’s coal rush leaves three million living on the edge – Telegraph
Cold Calculus of Arctic Mining Sends a Swedish Town Packing – Wall Street Journal

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Post tags: Afghanistan, coal mining, copper, iron ore, relocation, Shanxi, Sweden
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“I want to see Sweden become the first country in Europe to introduce instruction in Chinese as a foreign language at all primary and secondary schools,” said Jan Bjoerklund, who heads the Liberal Party, a junior member of the centre-right ruling coalition ….

“Not everyone in the business world speaks English. Very highly qualified activities are leaving Europe to move to China. Chinese will be much more important from an economic point of view than French or Spanish,” he said ….

Bjoerklund acknowledged that such a move would demand a lot of resources, especially for recruiting educators who can teach Chinese, but said that within a decade all primary schools should be equipped to teach the language, while it might take 15 years for secondary schools to readjust.

And from TheLocal.se:

“If we look towards the next generation, it’s almost unavoidable to think anything else than that China will be a very important global actor,” said the minister in an interview with Sveriges Radio (SR) ….

“It all boils down to teacher training colleges and other institutions expanding their programmes, and if we decide to do this, it’s definitely possible,” said Björklund to SR.

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Post tags: Chinese language, Europe, Sweden, teaching chinese
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Born in the northwestern Chinese city of Lanzhou to a Uyghur father and an ethnic minority Hui Muslim mother, Babur later moved to Hotan in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), now China’s northwesternmost province.

He entered Sweden as a political refugee in the late 1990s and became a Swedish citizen in 2002.

The chief prosecutor in the case, Tomas Lindstrand, told local media Babur was suspected on reasonable grounds of unlawful espionage from January 2008-June 2009, with activities both in Sweden and overseas.

Swedish authorities allege that Mehsut was spying on the Uigher community in Sweden, and the Swedish government has expelled a Chinese diplomat in Sweden.  China has responded by expelling a Swedish diplomat from China.

See also past CDT posts on the Uighers.

© cschultz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Babur Mehsut, espionage, Sweden, Uighers
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The investigation was prompted by a Swedish Radio report that said three jurors from the medicine, chemistry and physics committees were invited to China to explain the selection process and what it takes to win a Nobel Prize. Chinese authorities paid for their plane tickets, hotels and meals, the report said.

If charged and convicted, the jurors would face fines or up to two years in prison. However, Swedish prosecutors often drop preliminary investigations without pressing charges.

Gunnar Oquist, the permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the Nobels in chemistry, physics and economics, acknowledged that the trips were inappropriate.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Nobel Prize, Sweden
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Sweden and its largest energy concern are recruiting corporate allies in China for a private-sector battle against global climate change. More than 20 Chinese firms have been asked to join the three-month-old 3C Combat Climate Change Initiative spearheaded by Vattenfall, a specialist company in alternative energy, with diplomatic support from the Swedish government.

Leading the Beijing push is Sweden’s ambassador to China, Orjan Berner, who has contacted several major Chinese companies in behalf of Vattenfall and the initiative.

Some of the first companies showing interest are China’s largest steelmaker Baoshan Iron & Steel Company Ltd. (Baosteel), and the largest shipping conglomerate China COSCO Group, Berner said. They may join the effort with international giants such as General Electric, Hitachi, Siemens, and Lufthansa. [Full Text]

- Also 3C’s Statement (pdf)

© Michael Zhao for China Digital Times (CDT), 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: global warming, Sweden
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