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Eckley almost ceased to exist two years ago at the age of 155.

But just like the miners who defined the town's existence, Eckley has re-emerged.

It's a town that refuses to give up.

"It needs to be here," says George Keifer, part-time employee of Eckley Miners' Village. "It needs to remain because of everything it stands for."

Eckley is an anthracite coal mining patch town located in Luzerne County, just 20 miles north of Tamaqua, Jim Thorpe and Lehighton. Since 1970, it has been owned and operated as a museum by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

(This the final part of a series of articles about Taylor's recent trip to south China's Yunnan Province. More photos appear at http://www.btay200.blogspot.com/.)

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Standing amid a sea of yellow wheat, the tall golden grains waving ever so gently in the wind, I was just about as out of place as you could get. Wearing jeans and a fake black North Face jacket, I stood out from the Chinese workers in their iconic saucer-shaped field hats and torn pants.

Coal, railroad and iron turned Tamaqua into a bustling small city in the late 1800s, but it was explosives that created a boom town.

Explosives for mining and industry, plus gunpowder for war, helped one local man build an empire

With the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, there is renewed interest in rediscovering one of the town's first great industries - H. A. Weldy Powder Works of Tamaqua.

According to an early publication by J. H. Beers & Co., Henry A. Weldy was born Sept. 13, 1831, and spent his early life at Reading, Berks Co.

(Editor's Note: This is the first column in a four-part series on Taylor's recent trip to south China's Yunnan province.)

Yunnan, one of China's southernmost provinces, means "south of the clouds." It's a name fit for fairy tales and other childhood stories, one that hints at hiding something behind its cloudy veil. The name couldn't be more spot on.