Earthquake survivors set up a temporary shelter in front of a mosque in Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu province on December 20, 2023. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)





A horseman trains horses on the snow-covered grassland in West Ujimqin Banner of Xilingol League, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on December 20, 2023. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Rex Features/Shutterstock)





Volunteers distribute foods to quake victims at a temporary settlement in Chenjiacun village in Jishishan county in northwest China's Gansu province on Wednesday, December 20, 2023. Hundreds of temporary housing units were being set up in northwest China on Thursday for survivors of an earthquake that destroyed more than 14,000 homes and killed at least 135 people, according to state media reports. (Photo by Chinatopix via AP Photo)





Policemen stop activist Alexandra Wong (C), also known as Grandma Wong, as she carries Britain's Union Jack outside the West Kowloon court ahead of the trial of pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong on December 22, 2023. A Hong Kong court on December 22 rejected jailed pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai's bid to throw out a charge of seditious publication in a trial that has attracted international attention. (Photo by Peter Parks/AFP Photo)





Children learn to make 'ice-sugar gourd' from their teacher at a kindergarten as the New Year approaches on December 22, 2023 in Hefei, Anhui Province of China. (Photo by Zhao Ming/VCG via Getty Images)





A man swims in a partly frozen lake in Beijing on December 23, 2023. (Photo by Jade Gao/AFP Photo)





People try to keep warm their hands by a heater as they wait for their seats outside a restaurant at an outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, Saturday, December 23, 2023. A cold wave began earlier in the week bringing extensive snowfall and freezing temperatures across China. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)





This photo taken on December 23, 2023 shows employees working on a snow sculpture in Harbin in China's northeastern Heilongjiang province. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)





A woman takes a picture of a child jumping near a Christmas tree decorated outside the Wangfujing Church, a Catholic church, on Christmas Eve in Beijing, Sunday, December 24, 2023. Like other western festivals, Christmas is not traditionally celebrated in China, but it has been a common thing among young Chinese in big cities across China. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)





This aerial photo taken on December 24, 2023 shows winter cherry blossoms in Nanjian Yi Autonomous County, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Rex Features/Shutterstock)





Visitors pose with a man dressed as Santa Claus outside the Xishiku Church on Christmas Day in Beijing, Monday, December 25, 2023. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)





A Shandong Airlines plane flies over a pair of newly weds as they pose for wedding photos at a Chaotian Palace Temple in Xiamen in southeast China's Fujian province, Monday, December 25, 2023. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)





A woman walks past images depicting the late Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong at a stall in an antique market in Beijing on December 26, 2023, the 130th birth anniversary of communist China's founding father. (Photo by Jade Gao/AFP Photo)





Folk artist Zuo Ansheng creates dragon-shaped dough models at an intangible cultural heritage museum on December 26, 2023 in Linyi, Shandong Province of China. The upcoming year is the year of the dragon according to Chinese zodiac. (Photo by Wang Yanbing/VCG via Getty Images)





People feed black-headed gulls in Kunming City, southwest China's Yunnan Province on December 27, 2023. (Photo by Rex Features/Shutterstock)





People ride sleds on a frozen lake at the Summer Palace during sunset in Beijing on December 28, 2023. (Photo by Jade Gao/AFP Photo)





A worker collects rental bicycles along a street in Beijing on December 28, 2023. (Photo by Pedro Pardo/AFP Photo)





People ride sleds on a frozen lake at the Summer Palace during sunset in Beijing on December 28, 2023. (Photo by Jade Gao/AFP Photo)





A visitor stands near a display showing earth during an exhibition about China's space program in Beijing, Thursday, December 28, 2023. China's burgeoning space program plans to place astronauts on the moon before 2030 and expand the country's orbiting space station against the background of a rivalry with the U.S. for reaching new milestones in outer space, reflecting their competition for influence on global events. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)





A newly weds pose for wedding photos along a beach during a sunset in Xiamen in southeast China's Fujian province, Thursday, December 28, 2023. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)