Ask Around About the Mine

To outsiders, coal mines are filthy, chaotic places of gray skies and bare earth. But to those of us who grew up in mining families, they were enormous playgrounds. As a child of the post-80s generation, the lively bustle of the coal mines also reflects the country's reform and development. Human nature is laid bare here, and there's no shortage of life's bittersweet moments. In the mines, there are workers who have suffered their whole lives, as well as powerful officials who have climbed to the top by playing every side. Let me tell you the story, slowly: this collective memory, steeped in the distinctive character of Shanxi, takes us back thirty years.