The contrast between the amazing development of modern China and the rural provinces in the north-west could not be any bigger. Here in the Inner Mongolia province, most people still made their living as farmers, workmen or owners of some small business. Obviously, big business had not yet arrived at XiaKengZi by 2003 when this photo was taken, and most people lived as farmers pretty much the same way their ancestors had been for centuries. The entrance signal inicates crossing ahead in the station for the mixed freight.