An army dog stands up as retiring soldiers salute their guard post before retirement in Suqian, Jiangsu province, China on November 29, 2017. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)

In this picture taken on December 13, 2017, a woman commutes on a street on a cold day in Baoding. As temperatures dipped below freezing in a northern Chinese village, a group of parka-clad women tried to stay warm as they played mahjong around a small gas stove in a grocery store. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)

Aerial view of CRH bullet trains setting out ahead of Spring Festival travel rush on January 31, 2018 in Hefei, Anhui Province of China. About 2.98 billion trips will be made during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush. China will take multiple measures to ensure a smooth Spring Festival travel rush. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

A Chinese stripper dances during a funeral in Handan city, Hebei province, China on March 2015. The Chinese Ministry of Culture has announced plans to work closely with the police to eliminate risqué performances, including strippers, at funeral. The aim of such entertainment is to draw more mourners to the ceremony. (Photo by Imaginechina/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

This photo taken on May 20, 2020 shows elementary school students wearing wings to maintain social distancing amid concerns of the COVID-19 coronavirus, in a classroom in Taiyuan in China's northern Shanxi province. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)

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.

Liu Yang, China's first female astronaut, waves during a departure ceremony at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, on June 16, 2012. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters via The Atlantic)