Actors Ma Sichun (L) and Zhou Dongyu pose backstage after both won the Best Leading Actress award for their movie “Soul Mate” at the 53rd Golden Horse Film Awards in Taipei, Taiwan November 26, 2016. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

“«The Red Detachment of Women» (simplified Chinese: 红色娘子军) is a Chinese ballet which premiered in 1964. It is perhaps best known in the West as the ballet performed for U.S. President Richard Nixon on his visit to China in February 1972. Adapted from the earlier film of the same title under the personal direction of Zhou Enlai, which in turn adapted from the novel by Liang Xin, it depicts the liberation of a peasant girl in Hainan Island and her rise in the Chinese Communist Party”.

An Indian artist gives the finishing touches to a figure of the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha at a workshop ahead of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in New Delhi on September 15, 2015. The idol is meant for the forthcoming festival Ganesha Chaturthi, a ten-day long event which is celebrated all over India. During the Ganpati festival, that is celebrated as the birthday of Lord Ganesha, idols of the Hindu deity are worshipped at hundreds of pandals or makeshift tents before they are immersed into water bodies. This year, the festival starts on 17 September 2015. (Photo by Sajjad Hussain/AFP Photo)

In this Sunday, March 11, 2017 photo, children fight in a boxing ring in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe. Zimbabwean boys as young as 10 hurry every weekend to a boxing ring whose nickname, Wafa Wafa, in the local Shona language suggests that whoever enters will be lucky to come out alive. (Photo by Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP Photo)

An Afghan woman walks along a street covered with snow on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan February 7, 2017. (Photo by Omar Sobhani/Reuters)

(L-R) Playmates Monica Sims, Heather Rae Young and Hiromi Oshima attend the Playboy party with TAO at Spire Nightclub on February 4, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Playboy)

Photographer Han Youngsoo captured the ordinary people of Korea as the country emerged from war into an age of prosperity. Han Youngsoo: Photographs of Seoul 1956–63 is at the International Center of Photography (ICP), Jersey City, New Jersey, until June 9, 2017. Here: Seoul, Korea. (Photo by Han Youngsoo/The Guardian)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and these striking images of 2017 are no exception. The photo highlights include incredible snapshots of the natural world as well as some awesome animal and human encounters. The vibrant gallery also shows thrill-seekers pushing themselves to the limit with breathtaking stunts captured in perfect clarity. The pictures have been taken by a host of photographers from around the world. Here: The two lion cubs singing their hearts out at Antelope park in Zimbabwe. (Photo by David Jenkins/Caters News Agency)