The Coal Legacy of China and Great Britain

Types of coal

Types of coal available and consumed in PA, China, and UK:

AnthraciteBituminousSumbituminousLignite

History

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the 1700’s and later spread to Europe, North America, and Japan was based on the availability of coal, and human and animal powered industries were transformed in scale and scope with the invention of the steam engine. These technologies did not reach China until the mid to late 1800’s.

Beginning in the mid-1700's, coal mining in Pennsylvania fueled the Industrial Revolution in the United States, beginning with to the Colonial iron industry, followed by Andrew Carnegie's steel mills in the 1800's, and the electric power plants of more modern times.

Bituminous coal was first mined in Pennsylvania at "Coal Hill" (Mount Washington), just across the Monongahela River from the city of Pittsburgh. The coal was extracted from drift mines in the Pittsburgh coal seam, and transported by canoe. By 1830, the city of Pittsburgh consumed more than 400 tons per day of bituminous coal for domestic and light industrial use. Development of the anthracite coalfields in eastern Pennsylvania had progressed to the point where "hard coal" had captured the eastern markets. Consequently, bituminous coal production in western Pennsylvania grew principally with western population growth, expansion and development of rail and river transportation facilities to the west, and the emergence of the steel industry. Towards the last half of the nineteenth century, the demand for steel generated by the explosive growth of the railroad industry and ship building concerns, began to further impact bituminous coal production in western Pennsylvania.

The demand for Chinese coal greatly increased when foreign steamships began to arrive following the opening of several treaty ports in the 1840’s.

As like coal in Pennsylvania, China’s most efficient way to move coal from the mines to points of consumption was the railways – neither could survive without the other.

In 1876 a 10 mile line was built connecting Shanghai with Wusung. Authorities tore it up the following year and shipped it to Taiwan.

In the first half of the twentieth century, coal mining was more developed than most industries. Major mines produced substantial quantities of coal for railroads, shipping, and industry. Money was invested heavily in modern mining equipment and in the development of large, mechanized mines. The longwall mining technique was adopted widely, and output reached 130 million tons in 1957.

Britain’s Coal Mines

Before the Industrial Revolution, two types of mines existed : drift mines and bell pits. Both were small scale coal mines and the coal which came from these type of pits was used locally in homes and local industry.

Strikes

Similar to coal unions and strikes in Pennsylvania: In 1830, North-East miners established a union under Thomas Hepburn and the following year negotiated a ten per cent increase in wages and reduction in working hours for boys. A mass meeting of Durham and Northumberland miners was held on Newcastle Town Moor and the following year the miners went on strike. In the 1840s, the miners established the Miners Association of Great Britain and Ireland with headquarters at Newcastle from 1843. In 1848 depression in the coal industry weakened the union but it recovered in the later part of the century.

During the 1920s there were several miners' strikes. In 1926 the miners were starved back to work. Pit owners controlled many of the colliery houses and during times of strike they employed 'candymen' to put the families of striking miners out onto the streets just as pit owners did to the workers in the mines in Pa.

Similarities

All nowadays use power plants that are able to burn various types of coal.

PA and England were noted for having towns built up around the coal regions. They also had cramped housing and workers in the early days worked for little pay.

All had and still have issues with mine safety.

Coal Production in the early 1900’s

Production in 1905 (in short tons): China: 25,528,360England: 236,128,936United States: 350,821,000

Facts

Coal accounts for about 70% of China's total energy consumption. The development and production of the coal industry provides stability in China's economic growth. The coal resources in China have been exploited since 476 BC, and it is estimated that even with all the years of coal exploration, China has total coal deposits of 4,490 billion tons which are as deep as 2,000 vertical meters.

Today: China is the largest coal producer and the largest coal consuming country in the world. Approximately half of China's coal comes from small-scale mines. The sustainability of China's coal industry would be improved if a greater share of the coal come from larger-scale mines.

Today: Over 10 billion tons of bituminous coal have been mined in 21 Pennsylvania counties during the past 200 years of mining.  This is about one fourth of all coal ever mined in the United States.

Interesting Facts

13 miners die every day in China. Officials put the deaths at 4,726 in 2006

United States has roughly 30 deaths per year.In 2001 the carbon emissions from coal use

in China made up about 10% of world CO2 emissions.

Bibliography

Thomson, Elspeth. The Chinese Coal Industry: an Economic History. London: Routledge Curzon, 2003.

• History of Coal Mining. 16 Apr. 2008 <http://facweb.stvincent.edu/eec/MRIP/historyofcoalmining.htm>.

• BBC - Nation on Film. 18 Apr. 2008<http://www.bbc.co.uk/nationonfilm/topics/coal-mining/background.shtml>.