“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)

Policemen guard Poland's Supreme Court as a protester lies on the pavement in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday, April 22, 2021. A disputed disciplinary body within Poland's Supreme Court is examining a motion that could result in the arrest of a judge who has become a symbol of the fight for an independent judiciary. (Photo by Czarek Sokolowski/AP Photo)

Children enjoy and participate in a traditional street race of “carruchas”, the name for makeshift wooden cars in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, December 18, 2021. Children enjoyed the race marking 10 years of persevering this tradition. (Photo by Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)

Early-risers take part in an exercise program at dawn in Bug Light Park, Wednesday, September 20, 2023, in South Portland, Maine. Most of the state is enjoying a pleasant, dry stretch of weather that should last through Saturday. (Phoot by Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)

Flight crews of German airliner Lufthansa wear traditional Bavarian folk dress during a photocall to celebrate Oktoberfest at Munich Airport Franz-Joseph-Strauss International on September 15, 2022 in Erding, Germany. Lufthansa cabin crew will dress in the Bavarian traditional costume “Blaudruck Dirndl“ and “Lederhose” on several international flights during the Oktoberfest who kicks off this coming weekend and will run for three weeks. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Dressed in ancient Chinese clothes, children at a local kindergarten dance and make traditional perfumed medicine bag to celebrate the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival, Ganyu district, Lianyungang city, east China's Jiangsu province, 19 June 2020. (Photo by Imaginechina via AP Images)

Students wearing masks rest amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Seoul, South Korea, August 25, 2020. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

These poignant portraits look to shine awareness on the plight of some of the world’s most endangered ecosystems and species of wildlife. The images combine animals, art and celebrity, with Asia's top models posing with the likes of rhinos, giraffes, leopards and marine life. Here: Mikki Yao with an Asian Elephant. (Photo by Sean Lee-Davies/Caters News)