Page 8 - updated on July
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Yu Jihui: “A Stinking Old Ninth – A Tale of the Coal Capital” (updated on July 2020)
building known as Da Bai Lou（big white building.
It was said that the open coalmine was the largest of
its kind in the whole country. People would proudly
call the open coal mine ‘Ten Li Coal Sea’. Li is the
Chinese unit of length. One Li is half a kilometer. So,
ten Lis is five kilometers.
The middle school was small with only a few
rows of one-storey houses as students’ classrooms.
Before those houses, there was a tract of open space.
That was the sports ground. It was surrounded on
three sides by vegetable plots. A small wood was
about five hundred meters from the back of our
school. An earth road passed the gate.
The headmaster introduced me at a teaching and
administrative staff meeting. I stood at the front of
the room.
“Comrades,” the headmaster said. “I would like
to introduce a new teacher to you…” A peal of
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