The Face of Coal in China

Ever since I was a child, I called a coal mine home. It was in southwestern Shandong Province, which sits on the Yellow Sea in eastern China. Beijing was 370 miles to the north. Shanghai was 560 miles to the south. The coal-mining community where I lived with my uncle had a population of just 20,000. 

The mine had been around since 1986, and in addition to the miners, there were people from all walks of life. My uncle was an art teacher at the local middle school. Thanks to his influence, I had a strong interest in art and photography from a young age. 

After graduating from high school in the mid-1990s, I was lucky to be able to get a job in the local coal mine. For many young people at that time, being a miner was a desirable career, because — although mining was very hard — the salary for this back-breaking work was relatively high. On days that I worked, I had little time or energy for anything other than mining, eating, and sleeping. But on my days off, I often took portraits of my workmates and their families. Later, I began to explore the lives of mining families and also those who lived in mining areas but were engaged in different work. I also began to photograph the “subsidence lakes” formed by the land destruction coal mining leaves behind.  

I hope that my photography presents miners and coal mines — and those who depend on them — from a different perspective than what you normally see. The portraits of the miners here were taken 18 years ago. Most of them were my workmates or my former classmates. At that time, most of them were over 30 years old. Now, they have reached retirement age. As for the younger miners, some are still in the local area, while others have gone further inland, to the coal mines in Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Guizhou, and elsewhere. Some of them have been promoted. A small number have changed careers. 

In China, Shandong remains a relatively important area for coal production. As China has developed rapidly over the past several decades, it has done so on the back of the coal industry and the workers who spend their days, and risk their lives, toiling in the mines. But, as we all know, coal is a nonrenewable resource and people across China have grown worried about the potential ecological impact of our reliance on it.  

It is undeniable that miners are a vulnerable group. They are engaged in difficult, sometimes life-threatening, physical labor, in an extremely challenging underground environment. They have made positive contributions to economic development and social progress. Unfortunately, the miners don’t get much attention or respect from the larger society. 

I live in Beijing now, but I go back to the coal mine every year because my family and many friends still live there. As a miner and a cameraman, I hope that this kind of photography can change perceptions. I hope it shows that the Chinese miner is not a cold, coal-mining machine — there are rich and delicate emotions and unique characters beneath each rough appearance. 

The miners bring brightness and warmth to society. They deserve our respect.