Coal miners in Huaibei, in northern Anhui province, pose for photographer Xie Zhengyi, a member of the photo agency CPressphoto. This city of two million sits atop an estimated 2.726 million tons of coal, as well as other mineral reserves.
China is the world’s leader in coal consumption, and coal accounts for 70% of its energy production. But the past six years have seen a precipitous drop in its use of coal from it’s year after year increase over the last several decades, surprising many. After its boom years, the global economic crisis and China’s aggressive push into clean energy curbed demand. In the first quarter of this year, China’s consumption of coal-powered electricity dropped 10%.
Many of these workers come from families of coal miners, their brothers or fathers were also miners. As I look at Xie’s photos, I wonder if I am looking at the face of China’s future, or just at its past.
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Photos courtesy of CPressphoto via. Zuma Press