The Coal Village of Mulao Ethnic Group

Taking Luocheng as the center, Mulao people’s inhabited region has graceful environment and pleasant climate. The region belongs to the Jiuwan mountain areas, where the terrain is towering and the continuous ridges and peaks stretch to the far horizon. From Xiaolong of Yishan to Longlan of Luocheng, it is the well-known hometown of the nonferrous metals, where there are large reserves of various kinds of mineral deposit of high quality. Through the geological prospecting, there are more than 2000 places of ore dew point. Only the verified reserve of the high-quality anthracite reaches more than 100 million, so the region is also known as a coal hometown.

Luocheng’s anthracite is commonly called “white smoke,” featuring its high hardness and heat energy, which can be used as the fuel of heating the boilers and making steel as well as the raw materials of producing the nitrogen and sulphur chemical fertilizer. In the old times, here there were no modern industry, and the tools of digging coal and forging iron were quite primitive. After the People’s Republic of China is established, the government has attached great importance to the development and construction of the mining industry in Mulao mountain area. In the initial stage of the national economic recovery, a large number of geological prospecting technicians are sent to Luocheng to survey the mineral deposit of coal, iron, tin, etc. The fund and equipment are also allocated to carry out technological transformation to the old type of small coalpits and open up new ones. Through adjusting and rectifying, now there are 16 state-run collieries and collective coal yards. Most of the coalpits have realized the mechanized process of the well digging, ventilation, light, and water draining, thus leading to a safe production. As a result, the coal output increases by a large margin.

The great development of coal production has not merely increased the income of the people of the coal hometown and improved their life, but also has provided the raw materials, fuel and some fund for the chemical industry as well as machinery, mining and casting industry.

Mulao people utilize the coal resource advantage and develop their own national industry of coal sand pots production. The coal sand pot is a daily particle made of coke, gangue, and white mud. Its production equipment and making craft are simple, the finished product is cheap, but it is able to bear the corrosion of the coal fire. The rice cooked with it is fragrant, sweet and delicious, easy to store, and not going bad over the night. The coal sand pots Mulao people use has various designs, some for the cooking, some for holding on the wine, some for making the tea, and some for steaming the polished glutinous rice. There are various shapes for the pots, which can be tall or short, round or flat, small or big, double bottoms or single bottom. They sell well on the market, and some products are even sold to the neighboring counties as well as Hunan and Guizhou provinces.