Yueyaquan is a crescent-shaped lake in an oasis, 6 km south of the city of Dunhuang in Gansu Province, China. It was named Yueyaquan in the Qing Dynasty. According to measurements made in 1960, the average depth of the lake was 4 to 5 meters, with a maximum depth of 7.5 metres In the following 40 years, the depth of the lake continually declined. In the early 1990s, its area had shrunk to only 5,500 m2 with an average depth of 0.9 meter (maximum 1.3 meter). In 2006, the local government with help of the central government started to fill the lake and restore its depth; its depth and size have been growing yearly since then. The lake and the surrounding deserts are very popular with tourists, who are offered camel and 4x4 rides.

A “creuseur”, or digger, a plastic lantern on his head, readies to enter a copper and cobalt mine in Kawama, Democratic Republic of Congo on June 8, 2016. Cobalt is used in the batteries for electric cars and mobile phones. Working conditions are dangerous, often with no safety equipment or structural support for the tunnels. The diggers say they are paid on average US$2-3/day. (Photo by Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)

Ja Kang Song, 71, and Ja Hyun Su, 72, dive for shellfish and are the main breadwinners for their families. In South Korea, 45% of the diving women of Jeju are over the age of 70. Routinely diving to depths of 20m and staying under for an average of two to three minutes, the pressure on the body takes its toll and, like many others, burst eardrums have left Ja Hyun Su deaf. Each season, between seven and 10 women die diving the waters around Jeju Island. (Photo by Andy W. Langton/Age International)

Rickshaw puller Shiori Yoshida, 28, attracts tourists to the guided tour at the Asakusa district in Tokyo, Japan on August 22, 2023. Pullers walk or run an average of 20 km (12 miles) a day and, in addition to being physically strong, they must have extensive knowledge of Tokyo and know how to engage with the tourists who mostly hire them for sightseeing. “I have fun and enjoy myself”, Yoshida said. “In order for the customers to enjoy themselves, I also enjoy myself”. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)

A woman is consoled by her relative as she mourns after seeing her house getting burned during a fire that broke out in one of the houses and got spread in more adjoining houses, in a residential locality in Srinagar, November 21, 2016. (Photo by Danish Ismail/Reuters)

A house and garden is illuminated ahead of Christmas in Olching near Munich December 11, 2014. The house is decorated with more than 30,000 lights. Every year hundreds of houses across Germany are decorated by their owners with lights ahead of Christmas. (Photo by Michaela Rehle/Reuters)

A participant dressed in a traditional devil costume walks from house to house during the traditional St. Nicholas parade on December 3, 2016 in village of Francova Lhota, Czech Republic. This type of parade is one of the most popular age-old traditions in a few villages in the Wallachia region of Eastern Czech Republic. St. Nicholas and company roam the streets going from house to house, for two or three days as St. Nicholas gives sweets and tiny gifts as a present to children and the devils get up to mischief. (Photo by Matej Divizna/Getty Images)

A participant Saint Nicholas parade walks from house to house dressed in the traditional devil and Nicholas costumes in Francova Lhota district of Zlin, Czech Republic on December 3, 2017. This type of parade is one of the most popular age old tradition in a few villages in Wallachia region (eastern part of Czech Republic). Saint Nicholas walks the streets going from house to house three days and Saint Nicholas gives sweets to children and the devils get up to mischief. (Photo by Lukas Kabon/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)