Sometimes it’s easy to “exoticize” China, and think that China’s issues are completely unique. We may find it odd that officials have a structural incentive to either squash legitimate protests, which take the name “mass incidents”, or to buy off the petitioners with money from specially allocated “social stability” funds, rather than dealing with the root of the grievance itself. Likewise, we may find it bizarre than even China (yes China!) has things like cross dressing pop artists. Sometimes it seems like every art gallery in Hong Kong is required to have a kitschy Mao portrait or some post-modern take on sexy 1970’s-era female Red Guards – to appeal to the foreign demand for exoticized kitsch combined with absurd cruelty.

In a frank and honest assessment of China’s coal mine safety record, a senior government official has admitted that enforcement of safety laws, investment in coal mine safety and worker training are all woefully inadequate. The number of accidents and fatalities has steadily declined over the last five years but China’s mines remain the world’s deadliest. If it is to reduce accidents further, the country needs to address its production-driven development model as well as fundamental safety issues, said Huang Yi, spokesman for the State Administration of Work Safety.

Beijing-based journalist, David Yang recently investigated the case of a battery factory worker in the northeastern province of Jilin who was diagnosed with acute lead poisoning and renal failure but could not get adequate compensation because the authorities, apparently in collusion with his employer, refused to classify his injury as work-related.

Hon Hai Group, the Taipei-based maker of Apple Inc. iPhones and Hewlett-Packard Co. computers, said it’s recruiting mental-health professionals and building leisure facilities in its Chinese factories after at least seven employee suicides this year.