“The popularity of the Internet in China has driven the explosive growth of profitable Web companies and made fortunes for some Chinese entrepreneurs despite government controls on what the public can see online. The number of mainland Internet users rose to 513 million in December, up 12 percent from a year earlier, the government-sanctioned China Internet Network Information Center said”. – AP Business Writer

Photo: Shi Yongxin, abbot of the Shaolin Temple, works on the computer April 8, 2005 in Dengfeng, Henan Province, China. (Photo by Cancan Chu/Getty Images)

Emily Ratajkowski and Vanessa Hudgens attend the 73rd Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 09, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)

A resident brings his dog that uses a mask in Jakarta, Indonesia, on May 12, 2020. (Photo by Jefta Images/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

Indian army training cadets perform “Kalaripayattu”, an ancient martial art from Kerala, during a combined display ahead of their graduation ceremony, at the Officers Training Academy (OTA), in Chennai, India on September 8, 2023. A combined display of training proficiency was organized at the OTA as a prelude to a passing-out parade of cadets. The combined display marks the culmination of the adventure training and showcases the skills and expertise of armed forces display teams. (Photo by Idrees Mohammed/EPA/EFE)

A captive elephant is made to swim for visitors at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi province, Thailand on September 15, 2024. (Photo by Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP Photo)

Russian servicemen look on as a Mi-24 helicopter fly overhead during the Open Water competition for pontoon bridge units, as part of the International Army Games 2018, outside Murom, Russia August 3, 2018. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

The Chilean ship “Skorpios II” is seen after it ran aground in “Maillen” island, near Puerto Montt, south of Santiago, in this handout picture from the Chilean Navy, February 5, 2015. According to the Chilean Navy, the ship's 89 passengers and 31 crew members were all evacuated and no oil spills or casualties were reported. (Photo by Reuters/Chilean Navy)

While communism, collectivism, worms, dry rot and casual looting failed to destroy the majestic wooden churches of Russia, it may be ordinary neglect that finally does them in. Dwindled now to several hundred remaining examples, these glories of vernacular architecture lie scattered amid the vastness of the world’s largest country. Just over a decade ago, Richard Davies, a British architectural photographer, struck out on a mission to record the fragile and poetic structures. Austerely beautiful and haunting, “Wooden Churches: Traveling in the Russian North” (White Sea Publishing; $132) is the result. Covering thousands of miles, Mr. Davies described how he and the writer Matilda Moreton tracked down the survivors from among the thousands of onion-domed structures built after Prince Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988.