A self-made coffin

Abstract

“He passed away,” said Feng*, a lay volunteer for the non-governmental organisation Love Save Pneumoconiosis, which aims to support patients with pneumoconiosis and eventually eradicate the disease. Feng and I were driving to a mountainous village in Shaanxi province, in the geographical centre of China. “I'm sorry”, I said. I pretended to be familiar with death. “You shouldn't be”, said Feng. “It's quite normal.” Feng was informed by a text message that the patient with pneumoconiosis we had visited the day before had died no more than 2 h after we had left their home. Sleet was running down the windows of my car, as countless tunnels and woodlands passed by. I was in Qinling Mountains, an area home to pandas and other rare species. The mountains are beautiful and full of resources such as gold and molybdenum, but these natural treasures bring suffering as well as livelihoods. China is reported to have more than 1 million patients with pneumoconiosis. Most of these people work in private mines that have boomed in the past 30 years due to China's Open and Reform Policy. Many of these miners have developed coughing and choking symptoms, and have subsequently been diagnosed with pneumoconiosis. Feng and I met Shiwa at his home. He had worked in a molybdenum mine between 1998 and 2005. In 2011, he developed a severe cough, and in 2014, he was diagnosed with pneumoconiosis. His pneumoconiosis is now so severe he relies on an oxygenerator to breathe on bad days. Because he knows his condition will eventually be fatal, Shiwa spent 3 months in the summer of 2017 constructing his own coffin. In Chinese culture, older people are supposed to prepare a coffin or grave for themselves to ensure a decent burial. But Shiwa is still relatively young. A former carpenter, he made himself a black coffin with the Chinese character for “blessing” on it. The image on the journal cover is Shiwa standing next to his self-made coffin. He is not the first to have to do this and nor will he be the last. Yuyang Liu is a freelance photographer based in Shanghai and Chengdu, China. His images focus on social justice, the environment, and urbanisation in China. He has won a Magnum Foundation Human Rights and Photography Fellowship, the Ian Parry Scholarship, the Abigail Cohen Fellowship in documentary photography, and was included on the PDN 30 list of new and emerging photographers to watch in 2017. Yuyang Liu is a freelance photographer based in Shanghai and Chengdu, China. His images focus on social justice, the environment, and urbanisation in China. He has won a Magnum Foundation Human Rights and Photography Fellowship, the Ian Parry Scholarship, the Abigail Cohen Fellowship in documentary photography, and was included on the PDN 30 list of new and emerging photographers to watch in 2017.