Laborers work in the dust in Quanzhou, Fujian Province. Photo: CFP

A worker's toes show the effects of long-term dust exposure in Fujian. Photo: CFP

Dust swirls around a man after a forklift passes by in Xinjiang. Photo: CFP

A cloud of dust looks like snowfall over a mine in Zhejiang Province. Photo: CFP

Covered in dust, these men toil in mines, stone-carving factories or grinding mills across China from the coast of southern Fujian Province and rural Zhejiang Province to the sands of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

They work at least 10 hours a day and their earnings vary from 3,000 to 6,000 yuan ($966) per month. These are not the only elements they have in common. Their lungs are often ravaged by the dust they inhale day in and day out, but they have no other options to put bread on the table.

Named Working in the Dust, the photo series was shot by Chu Yongzhi, a photographer with the Zhejiang Daily Press Group.

He won the Award of Excellence in the category of nature and environment in the 9th China International Press Photo Contest (CHIPP).

Currently, the number of farmers and migrant workers with pneumoconiosis, caused by being exposed to dust without any protection, has reached over 6 million. The fatality rate for the disease is as high as 22 percent, according to Wang Keqin, initiator of Love Save Pneumoconiosis, a foundation dedicated to raising awareness of the disease and providing help for sufferers.

"The disease is terrifying. A single breath for patients is as difficult as running a marathon for healthy people. When sleeping, they have to lie on their stomach or kneel. Even catching a cold could kill them. Every one of them is facing the threat of death," Wang Keqin told the Legal Weekly in February.

"A migrant worker once called me at midnight, afraid that he would not have a chance to talk to me later as his workmates were dying one after another," he added.

The foundation estimates that one patient died every day on average in January, according to the Legal Weekly.

Among those with the disease, the most well-known one is Zhang Haichao, who is in his early 30s and hails from Henan Province.

Back in 2009, Zhang "opened up" his chest with self-surgery to check his lungs and was diagnosed with severe pneumoconiosis. He chose this last resort as he saw no other way to act. Zhang thought he had contracted the disease, but the factory where he worked and the hospital declined to show him his physical examination report.

After his case was exposed by the media, Zhang got a compensation of 615,000 yuan. He is now devoting his life to protecting the rights of other sufferers like him.

The problem has garnered close attention from local environmental bureaus and some enterprises have been closed down or switched to other industries. However, a high number of plants still exist, especially in less developed areas where local fiscal revenue depends on them. Many companies cannot afford to close down this section of their business, but nor can they provide health insurance for workers, investigations have shown.

Global Times