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This photo taken on April 29, 2013 shows former construction worker Zhou Lihua, 50, who suffers from black lung disease, holding an x-ray of his chest as he poses in his home in the village of Daozi, Hunan province. In sleepy settlements cushioned between the verdant valleys of southern-central Hunan province, an ageing workforce once responsible for sculpting the skylines of modern China's glistening metropolises is years later feeling the aftershocks of such economic explosions. Pneumoconiosis typically affects construction workers and coal miners and is the result of prolonged exposure to dust which progressively builds up in the lungs. Usually the sole breadwinners of the family, workers who develop the incurable disease suffer from extreme exhaustion, making physical labour impossible. The resulting lack of income often drives families into poverty, pushing expensive treatments out of reach. According to official statistics, pneumoconiosis accounts for 90 percent of occupational disease in China, almost exclusively affecting poor migrant workers from the countryside. Although there is no definitive or reliable data, the Hong Kong NGO China Labour Bulletin cites studies by academics and civil society groups as suggesting the number ranges from one million to six million. AFP PHOTO / Ed Jones (Photo by Ed Jones / AFP) (Photo by ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images)