Elsewhere, villagers are returning to their homes after a reservoir partially collapsed in Shanxi province on the weekend causing more than 10, 000 residents to flee their flooded homes, China Daily reports.

BBC: China media: Pollution strikes again

About 250km (150 miles) to the north, in neighbouring Shanxi province, in Pingdong, a much poorer village, 250 people live along battered dirt roads, and try to grow wheat, corn, soyabeans and winter melon on the dry, rocky mountain land.

ECONOMIST: Farmers pay the price for decades of wasteful water use

The plant, located in Taiyuan in China's Shanxi province, employs 79, 000 workers, Mr. Woo said.

WSJ: Apple Supplier Foxconn Says Fight at Plant Spread Into Larger Unrest

Regardless, bragging rights for Number One go to Erdos and Inner Mongolia, with coal production outpacing Shanxi province in early 2009.

FORBES: Erdos Per Capita GDP May Surpass Hong Kong's in 3 years