Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday issued four strong directives to provincial leaders of northeast China's Liaoning Province with the objective of alleviating local miners' difficulties as soon as possible.

The four orders are:

-- A feasible management project aimed at raising miners' subsistence level standard of living must be drawn up and approved within the next one to two months;

-- The provincial leaders are to implement the project as soon as possible once approved by the State Council;

-- Fair and transparent principles must be adhered to in the implementation of the project; and,

-- Both the central and local governments must increase funding for the project to guarantee its smooth implementation.

Wen issued the directives after inspecting Benxi and Fushun, China's major coal mining centers within its traditional northeastern industrial base. The two cities are literally sinking as the earth is gradually giving way due to the past one hundred years of coal exploitation. Some miners' residences have been destroyed or cracked due to the geographical sinking.

The premier had a warm chat with retired miners and toured even the most dangerous buildings to get first-hand knowledge of the conditions in which miners live.