We only hope this ends well, regardless of whether the miners are rescued quickly, or if it takes months like it did in Chile: "A coal mine fire that occurred Wednesday night left at least 36 people trapped underground in east China's Shandong Province, according to State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) early Thursday. An air compression device at a parking lot 225 meters underground caught fire around 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, trapping 36 miners working in the area, according to initial investigation. The mine belongs to Zaozhuang Fangbei Coal Mine Co. Ltd. in Shangdong Province. An experts team headed by SAWS director Luo Lin rushed to the scene immediately. Rescue operation is going on. The licensed coal mine is a low gas mine. It had completed technical revamp in June 2010 to expand production capacity to 150,000 tonnes a year. The work passed check of approval in October the same year." [Xinhua] more ›

• Huang Hung talks about what the Chinese public knows about Hu Jintao - namely nothing, thanks to the leader's intense want of privacy. [The Daily Beast]
• China has committed to reduce the emissions intensity of its economy by 40 to 45% by 2020, but how will it do it? East Asia Forum has some suggestions. [East Asia Forum]
• Two Chinese singers, Fang Ziyuan and Yin Youcan, have been fined 50,000 RMB, after being caught miming at a concert in Chengdu. [BBC]

• Black Future: The coal bosses of Shanxi are tired of being the government's whipping boys [Forbes] "One of the most reviled and reclusive villains in the Chinese economy has been the coal mine boss. The archetypal robber baron of the Chinese Gilded Age, he has been caricatured as ruthless, greedy, corrupt and uncivilized. Now the coal mine boss is casting himself as a human rights case. The government of China's coal-rich Shanxi Province, southwest of Beijing, is trying to drive almost all private mine owners out of business, forcing more than 1,500 mines to shut down or sell out to state-owned enterprises at prices so low, coal bosses say, that some may go bankrupt."
• Google's Eric Schmidt on What the Web Will Look Like in 5 Years [Read Write Web] "Google CEO Eric Schmidt envisions a radically changed internet five years from now: dominated by Chinese-language and social media content, delivered over super-fast bandwidth in real time."
• The French Connection’s China Connection [WSJ] "A French court Tuesday sentenced two businessmen convicted in the arms-for-oil “Angolagate” scandal that implicated 42 defendants including top politicians, civil servants and even the son of late Socialist President Francois Mitterrand. One of the two, and a chief defendant in the case, is Pierre Falcone, who’s now in jail pending an appeal on the charges he helped arrange shipments of $790 million worth of weapons to Angola in the mid-1990s."

• China says 35 killed in blast at coal mine [latimes.com] "Chinese officials says a blast in a coal mine has killed 35 in central Henan province and left 44 other miners trapped. The State Administration of Work Safety said the predawn explosion today happened at a pit in Pingdingshan city. A statement on the administration's website did not give a cause for the blast. It said 14 miners managed to flee to safety. Ninety-three men were working underground at the time of the blast, it said."
• China enters list of lower-middle-income countries: NBS [China Daily] "China's economic aggregate ranked third in the world as of 2008, pulling it into the list of lower-middle-income countries from low-income ones, according to a Sept 7 report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The report, featuring the nation's 60-year development since 1949 when new China was founded, also said China has gradually become a large manufacturing country as it strengthened industrial infrastructure construction and expanded productivity."
• Taiwan premier quits over typhoon [BBC NEWS] "Taiwan's premier Liu Chao-shiuan has resigned, after the government was heavily criticised for its slow response to last month's typhoon. Mr Liu will be replaced by the ruling party's secretary general, Wu Den-yih. Mr Liu told reporters that someone had to take political responsibility for the fact that at least 600 people had died as a result of Typhoon Morakot."