This photo taken on January 9, 2023 shows black-necked cranes wandering in a pond at a nature reserve in Bijie, in China's southwestern Guizhou province. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)





Aerial view of Jiankou Great Wall covered by snow on January 13, 2023 in Beijing, China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)





Children wearing cardboard lion dance masks walk along a street in Beijing on January 13, 2023. China has announced its first overall population decline in recent years amid an aging society and plunging birthrate. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)





A lantern featuring a fairy is illuminated during a lantern show at Tang Paradise ahead of the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Rabbit, on January 12, 2023 in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province of China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)





A traveler sits on her suitcase outside the entrance of the Beijing Railway Station in Beijing, Saturday, January 14, 2023. Millions of Chinese are expected to travel during the Lunar New Year holiday period this year. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)





Aerial view of buildings surrounded by advection fog on January 14, 2023 in Xiamen, Fujian Province of China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)





Fishermen pull a fishing net with its catch during winter fishing season in Bosten Lake on January 15, 2023 in Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)





Residents enjoy skating on the frozen Houhai Lake in Beijing, Monday, January 16, 2023. The World Health Organization has appealed to China to keep releasing information about its wave of COVID-19 infections after the government announced nearly 60,000 deaths since early December following weeks of complaints it was failing to tell the world what was happening. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)





A crane lifts a shipping container at an automated container port in Tianjin, China, Monday, January 16, 2023. China's economic growth fell to 3% last year under pressure from antivirus controls and a real estate slump but is gradually reviving after restrictions that kept millions of people at home were lifted. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)





Children wearing face masks skate at an ice rink in Beijing, China, 16 January 2023. The World Health Organization's director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke with Ma Xiaowei, director of China's National Health Commission on 14 January, on the wave of infections which erupted after the country suddenly dismantled its anti-virus policy last month, after Beijing released new data showing a big rise in COVID-19-related deaths. (Photo by Wu Hao/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)





A woman and child push an ice chair across a frozen pond at a public park in Beijing, Tuesday, January 17, 2023. China has announced its first population decline in decades as what has been the world's most populous nation ages and its birthrate plunges. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)





A patient lies on a bed at the emergency department of a hospital, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Shanghai, China on January 17, 2023. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)





A man pulls a child past a Lunar New Year decoration on display at the Qianmen pedestrian shopping street, a popular tourist spot in Beijing, Tuesday, January 17, 2023. China has announced its first population decline in decades as what has been the world's most populous nation ages and its birthrate plunges. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)





A boy wearing a face mask using an iPhone with a Chinese currency note takes a picture on a street in Beijing, Tuesday, January 17, 2023. China's economic growth fell to its second-lowest level in at least four decades last year under pressure from anti-virus controls and a real estate slump, but activity is reviving after restrictions that kept millions of people at home and sparked protests were lifted. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)





Residents wearing face masks line up in freezing cold temperatures to buy Lunar New Year deserts in Beijing, Tuesday, January 17, 2023. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)





Residents ride on toy tanks in the snow at a public park in Beijing, Thursday, Januart 19, 2023. China on Thursday accused “some Western media” of bias, smears and political manipulation in their coverage of China's abrupt ending of its strict “zero-COVID” policy, as it issued a vigorous defense of actions taken to prepare for the change of strategy. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)





A couple take a selfie with their toddler in front of Lunar New Year decorations at a public park in Beijing, Thursday, January 19, 2023. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)





Children ride on toy tanks in the snow at a public park in Beijing, Thursday, January 19, 2023. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)





Chinese paramilitary police stand guard at Beijing West Railway Station in Beijing, Wednesday, January 18, 2023. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)





A man pushes a child riding on a suitcase at Beijing West Railway Station in Beijing, Wednesday, January 18, 2023. A population that has crested and is slowly shrinking will pose new challenges for China's leaders, ranging from encouraging young people to start families, to persuading seniors to stay in the workforce longer and parents to allow their children to join the military. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)