My first thought on seeing this photo was a dog down with its paws in front of it waiting for a command to do something energetically. It certainly is well prepped for a regular freight service loco.

My eldest daughter taught English in Taiyuan in 2003/4.

When they were called to do something energetic they were certainly well up to the job!
I suspect Taiyuan had changed a bit by the time your daughter worked there! No steam for a start...

Correct, she didn't see any steam but probably wasn't looking all that hard though...
I had a trip to China with my youngest daughter on a school organised trip for yr11 & 12 students. It was organised by the Mandarin teacher who had taught English in a Beijing uni for many years. I saw 2 locos from the overnight train from Xian to Beijing but no photos.

The other interesting hobby thing on this trip was that the father I shared hotel rooms with was after some radio valves to make an amplifier with. He and his daughter found a shop which sold them. He and his daughter and I and mine got in a taxi and the girls managed with their beginner language got us to the shop. There with their language and my electronics knowledge and much pointing head shaking and nodding we bought all the valve types he needed plus some extras. Then the girls managed to get us back to the hotel. I came across the other father around town about 18 months later and he had built his amplifier and was very happy with it.