The school of hard rocks: how protests by China’s miners shine a light on an industry in decline

Hours before his afternoon shift, a worker with the Dongbaowei mine in northeastern China’s Heilongjiang province stacks his mahjong tiles with calloused hands stained by coal and lined with bruised nails.

“A local saying refers to people in our line of work as rock sandwiches, with muscles and blood as filling,” says the 46-year-old, a father of two boys.

“Every time we go underground it is like entering a battlefield,” he says. “No one knows whether we can make it back up alive when the next shift finishes.”

He asks not to be identified, understandably given the authorities have launched a crackdown to silence workers who have been protesting over months’ of unpaid wages.

19 killed in northern China late-night coal mine accident

The dangerous nature of front line miners means they are entitled to higher wages than the average factory worker. Yet miners across northeastern China have faced months of missing payments – a matter which prompted thousands of them to take to the streets of Shuangyashan city in a recent protest.

“What do you want me to say? The urge to kill those who have exploited us comes to mind every time I think about my wages,” he says, rubbing his forehead with deformed fingers.