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)

An aerial view of paddy fields at Debao County on October 16, 2022 in Baise, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China. The paddy fields in Baise have entered harvest season. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

A man walks with his dog riding on a scooter across a square on August 9, 2022 in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province of China. (Photo by Yang Bo/China News Service via Getty Images)

A woman rides an electric bicycle on her way as she wears a sunscreen mask towards off strong ultraviolet rays in Fuyang, China on August 14, 2022. The Central Meteorological Observatory of China issued a high-temperature red warning. It is expected that the maximum temperature in some parts of China will reach above 40°C on August 14. (Photo by Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A bus goes through a flooded area in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, China, June 19, 2016. A week of torrential rain in southern China has killed dozens of people and forced relocation of tens of thousands of residents, media reported. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

A man carries a bag on his back in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, January 26, 2016. According to traffic police, over 2.9 billion trips will be made around China during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, which started on January 24. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A 22-year-old woman in a wedding gown is grabbed by Guo Zhongfan, a local community officer, as she attempts to kill herself by jumping out of a seven-storey residential building in Changchun, Jilin province. According to local media, the woman tried to commit suicide after her boyfriend of four years broke up with her, just as they were making plans to get married. The woman did not sustain any injuries during the incident. (Photo by China Daily/Reuters)

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.