tarboat's photos with the keyword: baofeng

A landscape full of limekilns a few miles from Baofeng, west of Pingdingshan. The stone is obtained from shallow quarries nearby and tends to have a lot of clay with it. This is washed off before burning.

Sometimes it is easy to forget that limekilns involved real people making a living in often dangerous and unpleasant conditions. In some parts of the world limeburning is still done in stone kilns with all the associated hand labour. This lady was working at one of the kilns in Liaosichang. Her job was to sort the ashes and clinker from the burned limestone in the big heap in the background.

Limekilns at Liaosichang west of Baofeng near Pingdingshan. There are dozens of these kilns scattered across the district.

Limeburning is a significant local industry to the west of Pingdingshan and the kilns have distinctive brick chimneys that make them stand out from a long way off. At the village of Liaosichang near Baofeng these two men came down to investigate why we had stopped outside their premises and were surprised that we were interested in the industry. The chimneys of two kilns can be seen in the background whilst the sacks contain powdered lime.