Photograph by Toby Smith, Reportage by Getty Images
Trucks haul coal from an open cast mine located in Ordos, in the mountains of Inner Mongolia, the top coal-producing region in China.
Smith recalls his initial "sheer disbelief" at the scale of the energy complex he set out to photograph. "The myriad infrastructure, mines, railways, highways, and construction that was being installed or enlarged dominated the landscapes I visited," he says. After he began to understand the work ethic, pride, and engineering expertise his Chinese hosts brought to the enterprise, he gained a deeper understanding.
"Rather than question the figures, or the strict and rapid construction deadlines, it became more natural for me to remind myself that I was deep within China," he says. "Direct comparisons to the Western speed or scale of implementation feel quite futile now."
Sometimes, though, China has struggled to keep up with the pace of its own energy development. In 2010, when an epic traffic jam sprawled across 75 miles (120 kilometers) of Inner Mongolia's northeastern roadways, as many as 10,000 trucks transporting coal from this sparsely populated region to power plants in the rest of China became stuck in the gridlock.
And there have been conflicts between the new energy vanguard and the nomadic herders who once dominated the region. Hundreds of ethnic Mongolians, who now make up only 21 percent of the population in their traditional homeland, joined protests last spring following the death of a herder who had attempted to block the path of a coal truck driven by a Han Chinese man. Convicted of hitting the herder and dragging him for more than 325 feet feet (100 meters) with his truck, the driver was executed in August.
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