This work was created in Ma'an Coal Mine (马安煤矿), near Zhaoqing (肇庆), Guangdong Province. According to the official story, Yang Zhiguang was inspired by the story of the young peasant woman Yang Muying (杨木英), whose husband had died in a mining accident only a few months after their marriage. Instead of sinking into grief she started working in the mine herself, wearing her late husband's miners' suit and helmet, and started the first female miners' team of Ma'an Coal Mine. The original gouache painting from 1972 is in the collection of the National Art Museum of China, Beijing.
