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| September 24, 2010 |
Scenes from China
The past several months in China have brought devastating floods, a mysterious North Korean jet crash, the Mid-Autumn festival, crackdowns on gambling and much more. A country with nearly the same land area as the United States, China is home to over a billion more people than the U.S. (1.3 billion to be more precise), and as it grows economically, it is grappling with environmental, social and political issues that affect people and places around the world. Collected here, from the past several months, are photographs from around China, the land and the people - their daily lives, challenges, work and play. (43 photos total)

Tourists climb the Singing Sand Dunes near the Crescent Moon Spring on July 20, 2010 in Jiuquan of Gansu Province China. The Crescent Moon Spring, named after its unique moon-like shape, is located at the north foot of the Singing Sand Dunes, about 50 meters (164 feet) from north to south and 5 meters (16 feet) deep on an average. (Feng Li/Getty Images)

Japanese adult actress Saori Hara (pink robe) and actor Hayama Hiro (blue robe), both wear 3D glasses as they watch a replay of their acting during the making of "3D Sex and Zen", with director Christopher Sun (standing, center) in Hong Kong on August 13, 2010. The producers are hoping the erotic period drama based in ancient China will prove a titillating hit with 3D-glasses-wearing audiences and develop a lucrative, niche market for pornography productions in future. (REUTERS/Bobby Yip) #

A landslide swept aside buildings at the village of Wangong village in Hanyuan county in Ya'an of southwest China's Sichuan province on July 27, 2010. Rescuers searched for 21 people missing after a landslide in Hanyuan County in China's southern province of Sichuan on Tuesday morning, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Rocks and mud buried 58 homes and about 4,000 villagers were evacuated from their homes. (AP Photo) #

Officials inspect a train on a bridge after passengers were evacuated near Guanghan in southwest China's Sichuan province on August 19, 2010 an area hit hard by flooding that plagued China for weeks. The train traveling in southwestern China derailed after floods destroyed the bridge, plunging at least two carriages into a river, but all passengers were safe. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #

Building debris near an explosion site in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu province on Wednesday July 28, 2010. A powerful blast caused by a suspected gas leak rocked a plastics factory in eastern China on Wednesday, killing at least five people and seriously injuring 28. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Sun Can) #

A Hui ethnic minority mother holds her daughter while standing in front of their house at Xinyuan Village on July 18, 2010 in Yinchuan, China. The Hui ethnic minority are descended from the Arabic and Persian merchants who came to China during the 7th century. With a population of 10 million, the majority of the group lives in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, however there are Hui living in almost all the provinces and cities of China. (Feng Li/Getty Images) #

A statue with graffiti written on it stands in front of residential and government buildings under construction on land previously used for farming in the town of Gushi in Henan province. Gushi, a county some thousand kilometers south of Beijing, is a microcosm of the urbanization tide reshaping China, driving investment to the country's poorer interior, devouring farmland and creating cities that will absorb more residents than the total population of the United States in coming decades. (REUTERS/David Gray) #

A crashed aircraft is seen in this picture distributed by Yonhap news agency on August 18, 2010. The aircraft which crashed in northeast China was thought be a plane from North Korea, China's official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday, citing unnamed government authorities. The aircraft came down in Liaoning province on Tuesday, prompting reports by South Korea's Yonhap news agency and Chinese Internet speculation that it was a North Korean military aircraft flown by a pilot trying to flee the poor and isolated country. (REUTERS/Yonhap) #

A Chinese rescuer (center left) prepares to help airlift the crew off the damaged oil rig on the Shengli oil field off Dongying in northeast China's Shandong province on September 8, 2010. Two oil workers were missing but more than 30 others were rescued from a listing Sinopec rig off China's northeast coast, the government said, as the company insisted no oil was spilled. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #

Young Chinese women hold batons as they take part in a practice session at a dance center in Hefei, east China's Anhui province on July 26, 2010. Sexy and creative modern dance is becoming increasingly popular as Chinese society becomes more open, allowing different trends to gain wider acceptance, especially by urban white collar women who can now lead more colorful lives. (AFP/AFP/Getty Images) #

Nurses attend a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the founding of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, in Shenzhen city, south Chinas Guangdong province on Monday, Sept. 6, 2010. Shenzhen was once regarded as one of China's most successful special economic zones under the economic liberalization policies championed by the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) #

Chinese women lay straw in a grid to prevent the sand from drifting in the wind in the desert of Baijitan Conservation Area near Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on July 17, 2010. Almost 800 million hectares of farmland have been turning into desert over the past few decades; many people including the government have been trying to reverse this trend. (Feng Li/Getty Images) #

An artist works on a customer at the National Tattoo Competition in Shenyang, Liaoning province August 6, 2010. Some 100 tattoo artists from all over the nation compete in "traditional", "western", "black and white" and "colored" categories during the three-day competition from Friday, local media said. (REUTERS/Sheng Li) #

A hazy valley is seen below a hiker's trail near rock formations at Mount Danxia in the northern part of Guangdong province on August 9, 2006. Mount Danxia, famed for its rugged red landscapes that emerged from river silt deposits, was one of six sites which won World Heritage status on August 1, 2010 from a UNESCO panel meeting in Brazil. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images) #

A man walks past a monument marking the September 18th Incident in Shenyang, Liaoning province on September 17, 2010. This year marked the 79th anniversary of the September 18th, 1931 Mukden Incident - a railroad bombing that led to Japan laying siege to Mukden (now Shenyang) and beginning the military occupation of northeast China, then known as Manchuria - the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. (REUTERS/Sheng Li) #

A military officer instructs college freshmen during a military training program at a college in Suining, Sichuan province September 9, 2010. Most Chinese university students are required to go through military training to enhance patriotism and self-discipline when they enter universities in China. (REUTERS/Stringer) #

Attendants place biodegradable urns on a table at a cemetery in Tianjin, northern China, for a collective eco-burial on July 20, 2010. In a country with 10 million deaths per year, China still faces hurdles promoting environmentally-friendly types of funeral and interment like sea-burials and cremation, which was first encouraged in the 1950's and currently accounts for nearly half of the interments nationwide. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images) #

A worker walks out of a factory building outfitted with nets, installed to prevent workers from jumping to their deaths, at a Foxconn factory, in Langfang, Hebei Province August 3, 2010. There have been nearly a dozen suicides at Foxconn plants around China this year alone, prompting calls for investigations into poor working conditions at the plants that make parts for customers such as Apple, HP and Dell. (REUTERS/Jason Lee) #

Children play as villagers gather their belongings together while relocating to make way for the South-North Water Diversion Project in Yunxian county, Hubei province August 29, 2010. The relocation for the building of the central route of the project, which will be finished by 2014, will involve 330,000 residents - 180,000 in Hubei and 150,000 in the neighboring Henan province. The project is designed to take water from a section of China's largest river, the Yangtze, to satisfy demand in north China's drought-prone megacities - Beijing and Tianjin, Xinhua News Agency reported. (REUTERS/Kevin Zhao) #

A worker inspects lettuce plants growing under artificial light and in a liquid solution at China's first computer-controlled greenhouse seedling factory located on the outskirts of Beijing August 27, 2010. The factory will supply 15 million pesticide-free vegetable, fruit and flower seedlings per year to domestic growers, China's Xinhua News Agency reported. (REUTERS/David Gray) #

Chinese babies accompanied by their parents take part in a baby swimming contest, which the organizer hopes to break the Guinness World Record for the most babies swimming together, at a stadium in Beijing September 11, 2010. China's government maintains that the one child policy has averted 400 million births since the strict policy implemented in 1979 and has vowed to enforce it until at least 2033, when the population is expected to peak at 1.5 billion people. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #
More links and information
China's environment challenges eyed - UPI, 9/21
Inside Foxconn's suicide factory - Telegraph.co.uk, 5/10





















