Chinese exports have been tarnished by reports of adulterated food, toxic toys, tainted toothpaste and formaldehyde-soaked children's pajamas prone to burst into flames.

As bad as this is for foreigners, it's much worse for the Chinese.

Beijing is sensitive to the reputation of its exports and recently began a campaign to defend the quality of its products. But outside of strictly regulating speech, religion and politics, the communist government shows little interest in other forms of domestic regulation, like ensuring pure food and drugs and worker safety. Nowhere is this worse than in the Chinese coal industry.

In contrast to the government of the proletariat, even turn-of-the-20th-century American coal barons were models of solicitude for their workers' well-being.

Last year, more than 2,800 Chinese coal miners died in explosions and floods. This year they are being killed at the rate of 13 a day.

Currently, 181 miners have been trapped since Friday at two mines in Shandong province that were flooded, in spite of ample warning, when a levee gave way after days of heavy rains.

The Chinese government reaction: Tell the people, including the families of the miners, as little as possible. Government news coverage of the disaster was limited to five paragraphs on Page 3 of the party's official newspaper, People's Daily.

You may not like your job, but cheer up. You could always be a Chinese coal miner.