Workforce transition: From digging coal to selling noodles in China

Yang Haiming did not stop working when he retired from the coal mines at age 60. Instead, he jumped into a new industry. Yang is part of a generation of workers that powered China’s growth by digging coal from underground mines in Datong, a city known as China’s coal capital in the northern province of Shanxi. Now, as China prioritises renewable energy over coal, Yang is ahead of the change his fellow workers are being forced to confront.

He now runs a restaurant that sells lamb skewers to tourists visiting the Yungang Grottoes, a historically significant 6th century site featuring Buddhist carvings in caves that draws millions of visitors a year. Shanxi province would be the world’s largest producer of coal if it were its own country. Its roughly 800,000 miners dug 1.3 billion tonnes in 2025, or nearly one-third of China’s coal. A few million more people work in jobs that rely indirectly on coal, ranging from logistics to restaurants. The province will see crucial change as China adds renewable energy so fast it covered almost all of the nation’s growth in power demand last year, and growing tourism is a major goal.

Experts say it’s vital to make sure coal workers don’t get left behind a worry for many. “It doesn’t feel like money’s coming into this industry,” said Zhou Hongfei, a coal miner. As is typical for China’s state-owned enterprises, the coal company built Yang’s village right next to the mine called No. 9 that its residents would work. The place once hummed with thousands of workers and their families, with a school, a day care and a sports centre. These days, the No. 9 mine is mostly a museum, and apartment blocks occupied by outsiders attracted to cheap housing.

Yang is in the minority of workers who’ve managed to make a transition. There are many who don’t know what to do, who say they don’t have the right skill sets for anyone else. Zhou, 36, said he thought about switching to tourism but didn’t know how. He worries about supporting his wife and daughter. “To really be able to make contact with and then switch into a new industry is very hard, and the truth is, I don’t dare,” he said. “If you leave this industry, you don’t know if it’ll work out.”

The province’s major focus and biggest success for life after coal has been tourism. Hang Kan, who directs the Yungang Research Institute, last year called for accelerating development of the culture and tourism industry into a strategic pillar.

Few think Shanxi can leave coal mines behind completely. Experts see coal as a critical safety net for China’s security needs, and the Iran war has once again highlighted just how vulnerable energy supply chains are to disruptions. The government recently declined to cap how much coal can be used, walking back its commitment to gradually reduce consumption. In fact, China has continued to build out coal power plants at a massive scale, bringing online 78 gigawatts in 2025.

Associated Press