Just north of Kunming, the charming capital of southern province of Yunnan, it’s still possible to find old furnaces in a state of semi-abandonment.

Many of these are about to be demolished, others were left to their fate, aging and decaying slowly. Some of these old buildings are still in use, even if equipment is shabby and rusty. We took these pictures to capture a rapidly disappearing way of life, at least around Chinese major metropolises. In rural China the reality is quite different. Modernization is often not yet arrived. Here, then, these gloomy structures are still the only source of income for local farmers.

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Pictures by Matteo Damiani | 07/09/2010

Topic: urban decay, abandoned places, abandoned factory