Miner's Dormitory Introduction
During the peak of the mining industry in Houtong, a large number of miner families moved here, and the miners' dormitories, known as "liao" (工寮), can be found in Houtong, including Neiliao, Sanzo Liao, Wuzo Liao, Fanziliao, and Meiyuan House, all of which are workers' dormitories. In the early days, most of these dormitories were separated by wooden partitions, with a small hole in the wooden wall for a shared light bulb used by two households. The kitchen, bathroom, and toilets were also communal. Although the buildings appeared to be two stories high from the outside, they were actually divided into three levels inside. Each small window space housed one family. Thousands of people lived in these miners' dormitories, where children read, slept, and ate under the confines of these small windows. As the government ordered the closure of the mines one by one, a large population moved away to live elsewhere, leaving only the original miners' dormitories standing to introduce future generations to the life of miners at that time.
