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Xiaojiawan coal mine disaster

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Panzhihua ( Chinese : 攀枝花 ; pinyin : Pānzhīhuā ), formerly Dukou ( 渡口 ), is a prefecture-level city located in the far south of Sichuan province, China , at the confluence of the Jinsha and Yalong Rivers. It has an administrative area of 7,423.42 square kilometres (2,866.20 sq mi), and a population at the 2020 census of 1,212,203. 806,395 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of 3 urban districts.

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40-617: The Xiaojiawan coal mine disaster was a mining accident which happened on 29 August 2012 at the Xiaojiawan coal mine (Chinese: 肖家湾煤矿 ), located in Panzhihua in Sichuan Province , China . It was the deadliest mine accident since the 2009 Heilongjiang mine explosion . As a result of a gas explosion in the Xiaojiawan coal mine, at least 46 miners were killed. 51 were sent to hospital with seven in critical condition. It

80-491: A Mao Zedong -era campaign to develop basic and national defense industry in China's rugged interior in the event of foreign invasion. Mao viewed the building of the city as so important that he repeatedly told other party leadership that until it was built he would "not sleep well a single day." Speaking figuratively, he routinely emphasized the importance of developing Panzhihua by stating that if party leaders would not develop

120-487: A market economy was put in place in lieu of a planned economy , and as the space became more heterogenous, it lost its once collective spirit and became more unstable. It was in 1978 that Chinese leadership suggested private housing and in 1980, the National Urban Housing and Residence Meeting granted workers permission to build and own property, as well as buy public housing units. Eventually, in 1988,

160-506: A monsoon -influenced humid subtropical climate ( Köppen Cwa ), with short, mild, dry winters and long, hot, and humid summers. Highs drop to 21 °C (70 °F) in December and January, quickly rebounding during the dry springs, and peak in May and June, unlike much of the rest of the province. Much of the annual rainfall occurs from June to September. Panzhihua is one of unique places in

200-511: A break from the previous imperial China 's focus on Confucian principles of hierarchy and order. Thus, Danweis were themselves a product of socialist ideology but furthermore, they were "key sites" for the CCP-led government to promote their egalitarian ideology. As a result of danweis being such a socially enclosed and monitored environment, people became hyperaware of their behaviour and strived for absolute conformity which gave way for

240-660: A new factory hierarchy of authority and administration. To follow the Soviet socialist economic model, which aimed to achieve full employment, the Chinese work unit system guaranteed permanent employment. This means that a factory could not easily fire its workers and the workers could not switch to another work unit unless they obtained special permissions. The physical design of danwei was also influenced by Soviet architecture . Institutions such as industrial factories, schools and hospitals, and government departments are all part of

280-628: A remote headwater of the Yangtze River in 1966 as a steel production center. It grew rapidly as it remained relatively prosperous while the rest of the country suffered under the Cultural Revolution . The city is home to the Panzhihua Iron and Steel (Group) Co, called "Pangang 攀钢 ", the leading steel company in southwest China. Proven iron ore (mainly vanadium-titanium magnetite) reserves are 73.8 million tons, 72.3% of

320-553: A work unit acted as the first step of a multi-tiered hierarchy linking each individual with the Chinese Communist Party infrastructure. Work units were the principal method of implementing party policy. The work unit provided lifetime employment and extensive socioeconomic welfare -- "a significant feature of socialism and a historic right won through the Chinese Revolution ." The role of the danwei

360-599: Is an arch dam on the Yalong River , a tributary of the Yangtze River in Sichuan. The dam has six hydroelectric generators , each with a generating capacity of 550 MW. The total generating capacity of the facility is 3,300 MW, one of the largest in China. Annual production averages 17 TWh , and through December 5, 2006, it produced over 100 TWh of electricity. Construction of the dam started in September 1991 and

400-623: Is an integrated coal mine with an annual output of 90,000 metric tons (89,000 long tons; 99,000 short tons) of coal. Its trial run started in March 2011. In December 2011, it gained a safety license. The mine is owned by Zhengjin Industry and Trade Co. Ltd. Three owners of the mine were detained for investigation. 26°34′39″N 101°42′7″E  /  26.57750°N 101.70194°E  / 26.57750; 101.70194 Panzhihua Its economy relies almost entirely on its giant mine, one of

440-741: Is served by the Chengdu–Kunming Railway and the Panzhihua Bao'anying Airport . The city has over 10 bridges over the Jinsha River . Work unit A work unit or danwei ( simplified Chinese : 单位 ; traditional Chinese : 單位 ; pinyin : dān wèi ) is the name given to a place of employment in the People's Republic of China . The term danwei remains in use today, as people still use it to refer to their workplace. Prior to Deng Xiaoping 's economic reforms ,

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480-448: The Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, both administrative agencies and production regulation in relation to danweis were extremely disrupted. In these years, people often led double lives; praising Mao Zedong and participating in the revolution while engaging in activities that the revolution rejected such as listening to forbidden music. Along with the emotional and physical devastation in China, this ultimately led to exhaustion of

520-530: The Great Leap Forward resulted in mass starvation and agricultural downturn. More than 20 million people who had settled in urban areas were forced back to the countryside to work when urban food and consumer goods were strictly rationed in the socially-controlled danweis . The CCP then put into place policies that "had the effect of freezing people into their current work units." This often meant that many workers had little or no knowledge of what

560-523: The Permian period. They consist of some 110 species. In 1971, Sichuan Agricultural Science and the original forest vegetation Panzhihua aerial survey, found more than 100,000 specimens. It is the highest altitude Cycas forest, hosting the largest number and size of specimens. This forest consists of an endemic species, Cycas panzhihuaensis . The Ertan Dam ( simplified Chinese : 二滩大坝 ; traditional Chinese : 二灘大壩 ; pinyin : Èrtān Dàbà )

600-498: The State Council stopped issuing the construction of new housing units and instead redirected those funds to support workers buying their own housing units. By the time the 1990s came around, urban social identity shifted when people began to identify themselves by their individual identity cards rather than their danwei , marking the ultimate dissolution of the danwei. The danwei lost its economic and social dominance in

640-686: The Warring States ~ Western Han period. The landscape is dominated by natural areas. Attractions include a red cell spa, the Cave Stone Forest, the Jinsha River and Hai lake. In recent years, the Panzhihua government has been working on the development of the Sunshine Recreation Project to attract more tourists to Panzhihua for their winter vacations. Cycas first appeared some 280 million years ago in

680-735: The danwei system. Among them, the heavy industrial work units, commonly viewed as the prototype of the socialist workplace, were granted priority for resources. During the Maoist era, the work unit served as multifunctional urban institutions that encompassed various aspects of urban livelihoods. Danwei contained facilities for work and daily living, including production facilities, offices, residential areas, social services, child-care facilities, dry goods stores, public toilets, bath houses, meeting rooms, clubs for retirees, and sports courts and fields. Larger danwei might have schools or in-patient healthcare clinics. Workers' benefits were only partly in

720-581: The "penetration of the Leninist state in urban society." Danweis became successful vessels for political mobilization as the encouraged relations between employees were founded upon and channelled into political participation, often against an enemy. An example of this would be the massive workers' strikes during Mao Zedong 's Hundred Flowers Campaign where in the span of 6 months between 1956 and 1957, over 10,000 strikes had occurred nationwide in favour of Chairman Mao's attack on bureaucratism . During

760-511: The CCP defeated the Kuomintang in 1949, they sought to consolidate urban rule quickly for their own interests and that of the general populations'. By 1957, over 90 percent of the urban population belonged to a danwei. The danwei became as much of a social and political tool as it was an economic one. The CCP's creation of a danwei system that was based strictly on functionalism represented

800-521: The Soviet model of development, or state socialism , in the design of party and state organs as well as the management of state enterprises. To accelerate the pace of industrialization and to create a new urban working class, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) looked up to the Soviet experience and translated thousands of Soviet enterprise management literature. The CCP used basic principles of industrial organization and management from Soviet literature to draft its own industrial management system and create

840-611: The Yangtze. Annual runoff volume is 110.2 billion cubic meters. The potential hydropower capacity is 700 million kilowatts. The installed capacity is 3.474 million kilowatts. Panzhihua is close to the Xigeda-Yuanmou fracture in the Sichuan-Yunnan border. Its Renhe District was the epicenter of the 2008 Panzhihua earthquake . Bronze Age cultural remains are representative of various types of bronze artifacts. Under

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880-633: The city, he would "ride a donkey and hold a meeting" to build it himself. Southwest Third Front Commission Vice Director Cheng Zihua was among the first to investigate the Panzhihua site, traveling there in mid-1964 when only eight households lived in Panzhihua. In his memoirs, Cheng highlights Panzhihua's suitability for a strategic industrial rear because its "lofty mountains and steep hills" would make it difficult for enemy infantry to access or for enemy airplanes to bomb. Meeting with Panzhihua leaders in October 1964, Bo Yibo emphasized that while it

920-562: The country's largest. The economy in Panzhihua is mainly centered on natural resource development and heavy-industry. The city grew into a major city for steel production during the Third Front construction . The urban center was built on top of mountainous terrains. In 2005, Panzhihua won the "China Excellent Tourist City" title, in 2008 it won the "National Health City" and the "China Vanadium, Titanium" titles. The construction of Panzhihua occurred during China's Third Front construction,

960-459: The factory on massive steps carved out of the slope. Instead of the internal track system common to steel factories, technicians used a cable system to connect different parts of the facility to better adapt to the local terrain. Consistent with the Third Front construction's emphasis on secrecy due to national security concerns, the completion of the Panzhihua facility was not promoted at

1000-400: The form of wages, with significant benefits coming in the form of state-provided services and the like. Therefore, work units provided essential social resources to its members when the market economy had not yet fully developed. The industrial danwei was a state institution. Among the goals that state planners sought to advance through constructing danwei as part of China's urbanization

1040-639: The jurisdiction of Panzhihua City in Yanbian, Miyi and Renhe District, archeologists have collected nearly 20 bronze artifacts. Most of the dig sites were tomb sites excavated specifically for funerary objects. Practical objects were found that can be divided into three categories. Weapons such as bronze swords, bronze spears, and bronze Ge, tools such as copper axes, copper knives and copper hoes, and decorative objects like copper bracelets were found. The objects were similar to those of western Yunnan province , reflecting ethnic group similarities. The relics date from

1080-562: The labor force from endless attempted "brainwashing" in danweis . In the years during the Chinese economic reform beginning in 1976 and ending in 1989, led by Deng Xiaoping , the policies surrounding the permanency of the employee to the work unit became more lax, particularly in enterprise units ( qiye danwei ) where there was an increasing lack of a personnel dossier ( dang an ) system that prevented people from transferring or quitting. The danwei system only further weakened after 1978 when

1120-473: The lives of Chinese urban workers due to economic reform and changing social attitudes towards individuality and identity amidst political change. By 2000 much of the work unit's power had been removed. In 2003, for example, it became possible to marry or divorce someone without needing authorization from one's work unit. Between 1962 and 1965, during the Mao era , Beijing's leaders adopted emergency measures after

1160-462: The period of the Third Front campaign, almost every work unit in Panzhihua was a state-owned enterprise . The social services provided by these units meant that Panzhihua residents generally had a much greater welfare net than rural residents generally. In recent years, Panzhihua has experienced major population outflows. As a result, its government now offers subsidies to those who move to Panzhihua and have two or three children. The area has

1200-470: The provincial total. At the end of 2007, the city's reserves of vanadium-titanium magnetite were 6.694 billion tons, of which: titanium reserves were 425 million tons, 93% of the national total, the world's largest; vanadium reserves were 10.38 million tons, 63% in the nation, third in the world. Cobalt reserves were 746 million tons. Other minerals were chromium, gallium, scandium, nickel, copper, lead, zinc, manganese, platinum and other rare metals. Panzhihua

1240-456: The resulting style of construction is best characterized as "industrialization without urbanization." Panzhihua Steel was built during the Third Front campaign. Because planners chose locations based on military defense considerations, Panzhihua Steel was built on the side of a mountain, unlike most steel factories which are built on flat land. To ensure that the facility had the level foundation necessary for steel production, workers built

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1280-541: The success of the Daqing oil field -- service areas, multistory buildings, and cultural areas should be avoided in order to ensure maximum resources for heavy industry. Consistent with this mandate, Director of the Planning Commission Li Fuchun directed that at Panzhihua, workers should "dig a hole for a toilet" and only canvas tents should be necessary for housing. According to academic Hou Li,

1320-571: The time. Today, the city government of Panzhihua promotes it as a model of Chinese technological ingenuity. Panzhihua city government built a hospital in 1965 to provide health care for Third Front workers and their families, with Panzhihua Steel itself also establishing a hospital in 1970. In 1966, two power stations were built in Panzhihua as was a water processing plant. Due to Panzhihua's focus on industrialization, factories and mines had priority access to these utilities, with general access to filtered water and power coming over time. During

1360-471: The world without any seasonal lag. For instance, the hottest time in this city is exactly in the summer solstice, and the same happens with winter. The 24 solar terms of China exactly define the beginning and end of each season by both solar radiation and temperature here. Panzhihua lies in the Yangtze River basin, holding more than 95 waterways. They feed the Jinsha and Yandalong Rivers , which in turn feed

1400-403: Was completed on December 26, 1999. A total of 12,638,000 m (446,306,758 cu ft) of material was excavated during construction. Panzhihua is a highly industrialized area dominated by gigantic mining operations. Most of the land not in use for mining is taken up by subsistence farming. Panzhihua has abundant natural resources, but remained undeveloped until 1960. It was founded on

1440-476: Was critical to increase production in the area, doing so had to avoid the mistakes of the Great Leap Forward, a time when the emphasis on industrial production resulted in many people lacking "grain to eat." In an effort to avoid what Chinese policymakers viewed as a mistake of Soviet-style industrialization, the builders of Panzhihua were tasked with constructing in an austere style consistent with

1480-490: Was going on outside of their unit and there was close to no mobility between units or residences. The danwei unit system in tandem with strict residence registration requirements, namely the Hukou system , prevented migration from rural areas to urban ones, essentially dividing China into two tiers: a privileged urban society and an exploited rural society. [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from this source, which

1520-475: Was modelled in part on the Soviet kombinat . Some scholars believe that the social, economic, and political functions of the danwei could be traced back to the pre-communist financial institutions in the 1930s, the labor movement between the 1920s and 1940s, and the rural revolutionary models of organization in the Yan'an period. In addition, some scholars propose that Chinese state planners borrowed heavily from

1560-431: Was reported that 16 miners died from carbon monoxide poisoning, while three others died in hospital. At the moment of explosion there were 154 miners working at the mine. The shaft of the mine was severely destroyed. As of 30 August 2012, more than 300 rescuers have taken part in the rescue operation. Rescue operations are complicated due to high temperatures reaching 90 °C (194 °F). The Xiaojiawan coal mine

1600-410: Was the development of a socialist citizenry with a proletarian consciousness. In the danwei , urban Chinese lived and worked together in a collective and egalitarian environment. Briefly mentioned earlier, the late nineteenth century saw a surge of "public social consciousness" which brought the public's attention to many social, political, moral, and sanitary dangers of urbanized areas. So when

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