In 1990, Geng Yunsheng took up photography and began documenting the everyday lives of coal miners in the Wumeng Mountains of Yunnan Province. Geng’s photographs reveal the living and working conditions of migrant workers in small, often illegal, coal mines in rural China. His images have brought attention to the perils of modern-day mining. Geng says that many city dwellers are “shocked” by his photographs; they cannot believe such conditions still exist in China.

While Geng records the harsh and dangerous conditions of coal mining, he acknowledges having conflicting feelings about the industry: “Some small-sized coal mines built by the locals provided for their cooking and heating needs. When the mines got closed, they had no other way to access coal except buying it, which they could barely afford due to their low income. . . . If mining is banned, the locals may turn to cutting down trees, another scarce resource. And this may do greater harm to the environment.” Many of these small mines have since been closed by the government, but coal remains a major energy source.

The project that resulted, Wumeng Miners has won him several national photographic awards, and has been widely exhibited in Germany, France and the U.S. A book with the same title was published in 2010.