Bei xi mo shou

Beneath the sun, the once idyllic grasslands will soon be engulfed by the relentless dust from mining operations. Confronted with the smoke and clamor of intensive mining, the herders are forced to abandon their homes as the pastures shrink. Under the moonlight, iron mines remain illuminated throughout the night. The workers operating the drilling machines must stay vigilant, battling both the machinery and their own fatigue. Simultaneously, coal miners tirelessly load trucks with coal. With their faces obscured by coal-dust masks, they resemble ghostly figures. An unending procession of trucks will carry the coal and iron ore to the steel mills, where another group of workers toils in infernal conditions. In the hospital, time drags on for the miners. After years of inhaling coal dust, death looms near. They endure a living purgatory, with no hope of paradise.