“In 1967, Zhang Yaxin was 34 and working as a photojournalist at China’s state-controlled Xinhua News Agency when he was assigned to a top-secret government project. He was to be the official photographer of a new arts program led by Chairman Mao and his wife – the Model Operas. Though he was not to know it then, Zhang would spend the next seven years documenting the evolution of one of the most dramatic and elaborate attempts to redefine artistic sensibilities in modern art history”. – Chengcheng Jiang via TIME. Photo: Raid on the White Tiger Regiment, 1971. (Photo by Zhang Yaxin/Courtesy See+ Gallery, Beijing)

Photographer and former dancer Jesús Chapa-Malacara, head of art production company fotosjcm, announces the launch of Esprit de Corps, an innovative book of ballet photography unlike any seen before. The high-end art book, currently being independently financed and offered exclusively through a Kickstarter campaign, will feature world-class dancers from top ballet companies, including Michaela DePrince of Dutch National Ballet, Jared Matthews and Yuriko Kajiya of American Ballet Theatre, among others.

Costumed participants are seen during an Irish tradition of Hunting of the Wren festival held every St. Stephen's Day in Dingle, Ireland, December 26, 2016. Wren Day, also known as Wren's Day, Day of the Wren, or Hunt the Wren Day is celebrated on 26 December, St. Stephen's Day. The tradition consists of “hunting” a fake wren and putting it on top a decorated pole. (Photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)

Three elephant seals put on a show in Roie Galitz's “Three Tanors”, taken on January 7, 2016 in South Georgia Island. The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards are in full swing, so check out some of the fierce competitors jostling for the top prize this year. Photographers Paul Joynson-Hicks MBE and Tom Sullam founded the awards to spotlight wildlife conservation efforts and to inject some humour into the world of wildlife photography. (Photo by Roie Galitz/CWPA/Barcroft Images)

A bear that wandered into a University of Colorado Boulder dorm complex falls from a tree after being tranquilized by Colorado wildlife officials on April 26, 2012. Colorado wildlife official Jennifer Churchill said that the 200-pound male bear was tagged and relocated to a remote Rocky Mountain area. The bear was hit by two cars on May 3 and died. (Photo by Andy Duann)

A member of the “Exit Point” amateur rope-jumping group jumps from a 44-metre high (144-ft) waterpipe bridge in the Siberian Taiga area outside Krasnoyarsk, November 3, 2013. Fans of rope-jumping, a kind of extreme sport involving a jump from a high point using an advanced leverage system combining mountaineering and rope safety equipment, marked the end of the group's jumping season and recent Halloween festivities. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

Few people haven’t heard about the ancient city of Persepolis, which lies at the foot of the Mountain of Mercy (Kuh-I-Rahmat). In ancient times, Persepolis was the capital of the Achaemenid Empire. Regretfully, it was burned by the Greeks in 330 BC after they looted the immense treasure of this city. It is said that Greeks needed 5,000 camels and 20,000 mules to carry all the treasures from Persepolis. The only thing of Persepolis that has survived the wear of time is the ginormous stone terrace 530 by 330 meters adorned by elaborate stone sculptures. It is amazing how intricately detailed some of the sculptures are, despite the fact that they were created many centuries ago.

A Palestinian man walks down snow-covered stairs after Friday prayers near the Dome of the Rock on the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City February 20, 2015. Snow covered Jerusalem and mountainous areas of Israel early Friday morning and the education ministry closed schools for the day. (Photo by Ammar Awad/Reuters)