On the morning I arrived, I met the manager of a golf resort who told me that six coal mine owners from Shanxi had each rented luxury hotel suites for a month – and paid their bills with bags of cash.

The mill or mine owners (or labor recruiters) can look elsewhere for job candidates or raise wages to encourage more volunteers from the customary locations.

The huge fortunes earned by coal mine owners in recent years have encouraged many to disregard safety, resulting in thousands of deaths every year from accidents.