A decade through the lens: Housing projects help revive shanties
2022-10-21 14:10:34
By ZHANG JIE | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2022-10-18 19:40
Editor's note: To mark the convening of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China Daily has selected 10 sets of photo stories that illustrate various aspects of the country's development during the past decade, the achievements and experiences of the Party's cause, and the country under Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, via pictures, posters and videos. This is the sixth in the series.
Employees of Shanxi Coking Coal Fenxi Mining Industry riding on a truck as they leave work pass a housing renovation project under construction in Shanxi province on Nov 27, 2010. [Photo by Zhang Jie/For China Daily]
On Sept 21, Mao Xianguo, who erects pit props in a mining team at China Pingmei Shenma Group's No 2 Coal Mine, was visited by his daughter and grandchild in his apartment on the Xiaonan Housing Estate. The estate is part of a company-financed renovation project of a shantytown in Pingdingshan, Henan province.
Until five years ago, the 46-year-old and his family of four lived in a single-story house Mao rented from a local farmer. However, he bought the 120-square-meter, five-room apartment with housing funds he received from the State-owned company. According to the company, it has renovated and rebuilt 24,311 apartments for its employees and other locals.
Many coal mines have been upgraded in tandem with the development of the country's coal industry, while many coal towns have undergone face-lifts. The miners' living standards have been greatly improved, and many of them now live in modern apartment buildings.
Top: Two eight-strong families share home in a shanty near the Mazhuang Mine owned by Jiaozuo Mining Group in Henan province on April 11, 2007. Below: An estate developed by Fengfeng Group as part of a project for its miners had 9,400 apartments in Handan, Hebei province, on April 19, 2019. [Photo by Zhang Jie/For China Daily]
Top: Members of a miner's family make dumplings in their house at a coal shanty near Tongmei Group's Meiyukou Mine in Datong, Shanxi, on March 18, 2009. Below: Hu Lin (second left), a miner at the group's Tongjialiang Mine, his wife and daughter make dumplings while visiting Hu's parents, who live in a new apartment built by the group in Datong, on Feb 15, 2019. [Photo by Zhang Jie/For China Daily]
Top: Children play rubber band skipping at a shantytown near the Tongmei Group's Meiyukou Mine on March 18, 2009. Below: Residents relax in a square on the Songhe Housing Estate, a shanty renovation project, in Xingan district, Hegang city, Heilongjiang province, on Aug 6. [Photo by Zhang Jie/For China Daily]
Top: Children do their homework on a sewing machine in a house in Jiaozuo Coal Industrial Group's living quarters on April 11, 2007. Below: Mao Xianguo (left), a worker at China Pingmei Shenma Group's No 2 Coal Mine, welcomes his daughter and grandchild at his apartment on the Xiaonan Housing Estate in Pingdingshan on Sept 21. [Photo by Zhang Jie/For China Daily]
Top: Members of a family living in a coal shanty owned by Jiaozuo Coal Industrial Group in Henan pose for a photo before leaving the place for good on May 3, 2007. Below: Miner Li Fujie (second right) of China Pingmei Shenma Group, his wife and children in their apartment in Pingdingshan, Henan, where they have lived since March last year, on Sept 21. [Photo by Zhang Jie/For China Daily]
