Project
China: Dying to Breathe
China’s deadly mining accidents hit the international news headlines frequently. But the country's...
Photographer and Pulitzer Center grantee Sim Chi Yin has spent the past four years documenting He Quangui's life as he struggled with silicosis.
When she started the project, she expected to tell the story of how silicosis effects a patient and his family. But as she explained in a Lens Blog feature for The New York Times, she witnessed instead the love between He Quangui and his wife that sustained him for so long. Silicosis, a lung disease associated with mining, is the most common occupational disease in China, a country that produces the most gold in the world.
When Tencent, a major Chinese web portal, recently published He's story and Chi Yin's images, it helped raise 100,000 rmb (about $16,000) for his medical care.
Sadly, He died on Aug. 1, 2015.
Chi Yin's piece describing her work with the He family can be found here, written in Chinese.
