former minister Xie Zhenhua

politics - SEPA: a small potatoe crushed

Much has already been written about the sacking/resigning/leaving of the head of China's environmental body, the director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) after the Jilin disaster. Sun Bin comes with useful background on the basic game rules in the Chinese hierarchy that influence those movements in the powerful bureaucracy. It is very illustrative on how fights are being fought, so well worth a read. (You do need a proxy in China, since the blogspot domain is blocked again.)
Argument: the environmental minister is just a junior minister, betwee heavy weights like province governors and party secretaries. Also the CEO of the responsible state-owned company CNPC probably has a rank at least as deputy-minister. In that system of military-style ranks, combined with different regional responsibilities, the Beijing-based SEPA really has very little clout in Heilongjiang and its has has been sacrificed as a minor offer after the disaster, while the big shots are left alone. (in my summery.)

Books on China's administration