These Photos From A Chinese Factory Are Haunting
Photojournalist Kevin Frayer traveled to Mongolia with Getty Images and captured some haunting pictures.
Like the other 160-plus signatories of the Paris climate agreement, China has pledged to slash its greenhouse gas emissions in the years ahead as part of a global goal of halting rising temperatures.
"Our response to climate change bears on the future of our people and the wellbeing of mankind," Chinese President Xi Jinping has said.
As the world's biggest polluter, China faces an extraordinary challenge in reducing its emissions — one made all the more difficult because of the countless high-polluting factories scattered across the country.
Authorities have moved to shut down many of the worst-offending factories, but some factory owners simply pay informal "fines" to local authorities before re-opening.
Photojournalist Kevin Frayer traveled to Inner Mongolia with Getty Images earlier this month to capture some haunting pictures of life inside one steel mill.

Smoke billows from a large steel plant as a laborer works at an unauthorized steel factory in Inner Mongolia.

A laborer loads coal into a furnace.


A laborer walks in steam next to a furnace and cooling pit.

A worker smokes as he takes a break.

A worker overlooks molten waste in a cooling pit.


A man standing next to a furnace.

A laborer pours hot steel.



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David Mack is a deputy director of breaking news for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.
Contact David Mack at david.mack@buzzfeed.com.
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