Yunnan Coalminers

choi

Philip Wen, China's Economic Miracle a Mirage for Workers in Unsafe Coalmines. Sydney Morning Herald, May 11, 2012.
www.smh.com.au/world/chinas-econ ... 20120511-1yi2k.html

Quote:

"For more than 12 hours' work, he says, he [a coalminer] will take home about $20.

"The harsh climate means potatoes are the only viable farming crop

"There is no running water after persistent drought dried the wells. Fresh water has to be collected from halfway down the mountain and hauled up via a back-breaking two-hour uphill hike. * * * For those in Lengjiaping, this [rigid fukou] means they are even unable to relocate to the foot of their hill, where there is easier access to water.

"Healthcare is non-existent.

"Lengjiaping is predominantly made up of people from the Miao ethnic minority and it is devoutly Christian, due to the work of Samuel Pollard, an influential British missionary who arrived in China more than 100 years ago.

Note:
(a) coalface (n): "the exposed seam of coal in a mine"

Both definitions are from
The Collins English Dictionary
www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/coalface
(b) Lengjiaping  云南省昭通市昭阳区盘河乡 冷家坪村

Yunnan
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yunnan
(section 9.1 Administrative divisions: 昭通市)

(c) spud (n; Middle English spudde short knife, of unknown origin; applied later to a digging tool, and hence to a potato):
"an informal word for potato"