Over the weekend, mine authorities in the Bouyei-Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Qianna, in China’s Guizhou province, reported that 21 miners were trapped in a flooded mine, and that rescue efforts were in progress. Also over the weekend, 19 miners were trapped after a mine collapsed in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. China has the world’s worst record on mine safety, with 2,500 miners killed last year alone. People’s Daily Online reported late last month, on the heals of two more deadly mining incidents, that the problem of illegal mines remains rife. The report revealed that there were more than 2,000 illegal mines in Fujian province’s Longyan prefecture (龙岩) alone, and that these were heavily invested by local Party and government officials. In this cartoon, posted by the Kunming-based studio Yuan Jiao Man’s Space (圆觉漫时空) to QQ.com, an official smiles, his hand and pocket full of money, as he watches miners emerge with carts of coal from a mine shaped like a human skull.