By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
Tens of thousands of Chinese workers are killed in workplace accidents each year because the communist nation relies on local authorities to enforce national safety guidelines, which companies and local governments routinely ignore for the sake of production.
Harvard's Mr. Cooper said the local governments' attitudes reflect an ancient Chinese adage: "The emperor is very powerful, but he is very far away."
"They've been very casual toward life," said Richard Cooper, an international economics professor at Harvard University, noting that Chinese workers can always be replaced. "To [the businesses], life is cheap."
