Yang is part of a generation of workers that powered China’s growth by digging coal from underground mines in Datong, a city known as China’s coal capital in the northern province of Shanxi. As China prioritizes renewable energy over coal, Yang is ahead of the change his fellow workers are being forced to confront. Its roughly 800,000 miners dug 1.3 billion tonnes last year, or nearly one-third of China’s coal. Experts said it is vital to make sure coal workers do not get left behind — a worry for many. “It doesn’t feel like money’s coming into this industry,” coal miner Zhou Hongfei said.

Source: Taipei Times April 08, 2026 18:02 UTC