New model

Shanxi was forced to change its economic development model. In 2009, the provincial government launched an energy revolution to reverse the chaos of coal mining and transition to green development.

The province closed 88 coal mines and from 2016 to last year cut 88.41 million tons of overcapacity, leading the country in reducing coal reliance.

Last year, the provincial government spent more than 400 billion yuan ($56 billion), 80 percent of its fiscal expenditure, on environmental protection, education, poverty alleviation and transportation.

Wang Ping is one of the workers directly affected by the changes. She was laid off in 2016 when the Shigejie Coal Mine was shut down.

The mine, one of China's largest coal producers during the 1960s, had operated for more than 90 years and had over 2,800 employees when it closed.

Lu'an Group, the owner of the coal mine, transferred Wang to work at Shanxi Lu'an Shigejie Zhihua Biotechnology which is owned by the group.

At first she was reluctant to go as her family had all worked in the coal mine. But soon she noticed the benefits of working at the new company.

"The company develops food and cosmetics with peony seed oil. I work in a packing factory. The environment is so clean, which is in big contrast to the mine shaft, and my monthly income increased by nearly 1,000 yuan," she said.

The biotechnology company now boasts one of China's largest seed oil production capacities, with a peony-planting base of 20,000 hectares.

Fresh opportunities

Over the past 20 years, the local government and leading enterprises like Lu'an have initiated programs to help farmers earn a living in mountain areas, while restoring the environment.

Farmers have responded by turning 1.82 million hectares of reclaimed land into forests, putting a "green coat" on the barren hills.

Sun Ping'er, 59, from Mengjiaping village in Xingxian county on the Loess Plateau, said locals traditionally lived in cave dwellings dug in slopes, which were humid, dark, and dangerous inside. "When I was young, our family of five lived in such a cave house. We only had two meals a day in winter," he said.

Two years ago, Sun and his wife joined a rural cooperative specializing in afforestation work to help alleviate poverty. They earned more than 50,000 yuan last year by planting high-value fruit trees, which not only lifted him out of poverty but also enabled him to enlarge and consolidate his cave dwelling with bricks and concrete. The refurbishment has made the cave dwelling spacious and safe. He spent 10,000 yuan on the building, which he could not have afforded 10 years ago.

By October, 41 counties in Shanxi had been lifted out of poverty.

Xinhua