Tang Xiaojun has spent 20 years working underground. Despite the daily challenges, he loves his life down the mine far from the sunlight.

He has worked his way up from being an ordinary worker to a group leader in the Bofang Coalmine, a state-owned mining company in Hengyang City in Hunan Province. The pinnacle of his career was when his team set a new eight-year safety record under his leadership.

This achievement brought Tang the opportunity for a safe office job. But he chose to remain as a hands-on miner. "I am happy working alongside my buddies down the mine," said Tang.

Stories about Tang's exploits in the mine go back a number of years to the construction of a return airway, a key component of the ventilation system.

A new project was started in a section prone to roof-falls, an all too common mining hazard. After three days of careful investigation Tang led his team to complete the task a surprising ten days ahead of schedule.

His legend grew with the rescue of three team members who had been trapped by a roof-fall. Tang worked for 26 hours alongside his colleagues to dig a rescue tunnel. He collapsed afterwards, dehydrated and with his hands covered with cuts and bruises. His colleagues said he had been concentrating so much on the rescue that he had not stopped to tend to his wounds or even to take a drink of water.

Safety has been Tang's constant priority since he took charge of the team. According to his colleagues, he will not tolerate any recklessness on safety matters. If there is a problem in the pit shafts he will not hesitate to stop production until this is dealt with.

"We must not make money at the cost of precious lives," said Tang.

This hard-working Party member has received several prestigious awards for his dedication to the mining industry. These have included "Model Worker of Hunan Province" in 2003, and then "Model Worker" at national level two years later.

(China.org.cn, 17thcongress.org.cn October 14, 2007)