Xinhua Headlines: Past and present: 40 years of change in the lives of the Chinese people

The upper part of this combo photo taken in November of 1978 shows 37-year-old Jiang Yifen posing for a photo at her 25-square-meter home with a telephone for work purpose in Lintong of Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province. This dwelling in an old building housed Jiang's five family members. They needed to share the bathroom with other families living in the building. The lower part of the combo photo taken by Liu Xiao on Nov. 29, 2018 shows 77-year-old Jiang Yifen posing for a photo with a smart phone at her 160-square-meter apartment in Xi'an. (Xinhua)