A group photograph hangs on a damaged wall at Wang Junqi's cave house in an area where land is sinking next to a coal mine, in Helin village of Xiaoyi, Shanxi province, August 2, 2016. Deep in the coal heartlands of northern Shanxi province, people in Helin village are fighting a losing battle as the ground beneath them crumbles: patching up cracks, rebuilding walls and filling in sinkholes caused by decades of coal mining. Around 100 mines in Helin – buried in the hilly rural outskirts of the city of Xiaoyi – have been exhausted, and cluttered hamlets totter precariously on the brittle slopes of mining pits. But while local authorities have begun evacuating hundreds of thousands of residents most at risk elsewhere in Shanxi province, Helin's situation – though serious – isn's yet considered a priority. Mines that burrowed under villages and towns during China's three-decade coal boom have left the authorities with the need to evacuate hundreds of communities in danger of sinking. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Li Yonghua, 65, stands in front of her damaged cave house in an area where land is sinking next to a coal mine, in Helin village of Xiaoyi, China's Shanxi province, August 2, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Damaged walls are seen inside an abandoned cave house in an area where land is sinking next to a coal mine in the deserted Liuguanzhuang village of Datong, China's Shanxi province, August 1, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Tree trunks are set up to support a leaning wall of Li Yonghua's damaged cave house in an area where land is sinking next to a coal mine, in Helin village of Xiaoyi, China's Shanxi province, August 2, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Tree trunks and rocks are set up to support a leaning wall of Li Yonghua's damaged cave house in an area where land is sinking next to a coal mine, in Helin village of Xiaoyi, China's Shanxi province, August 2, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





A flower wall painting is seen in an area where land is sinking next to a coal mine in the deserted Liuguanzhuang village of Datong, China's Shanxi province, August 1, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





A dragon rooftop decoration is seen in an area where land is sinking next to a coal mine in the abandoned Duxigou village of Xiaoyi, China's Shanxi province, August 2, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Paintings are seen on a damaged wall inside an abandoned cave house in an area where land is sinking next to a coal mine, in the deserted Liuguanzhuang village of Datong, China's Shanxi province, August 1, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





A lion statue stands at the main entrance of an abandoned Liuguanzhuang village in an area where land is sinking next to a coal mine in Datong, China's Shanxi province, August 1, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





A worker operates a vehicle at a coal mine on the outskirt of Xiaoyi, China's Shanxi province, August 3, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





A hole and cracks are seen on the roof of an abandoned house in an area where land is sinking near a coal mine in Kouquan township of Datong, China's Shanxi province, August 1, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Workers stand on a truck at a coal mine on the outskirt of Xiaoyi, China's Shanxi province, August 3, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





An abandoned workers' dormitory is seen next to a coal mine in an area where land is sinking in Yongdingzhuang village of Datong, China's Shanxi province, August 1, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Abandoned houses are seen in an area where land is sinking near a coal mine in Kouquan township of Datong, China's Shanxi province, August 1, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





A man drives in front of a power plant next to a coal mine on the outskirts of Xiaoyi, China's Shanxi province, August 2, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)