A vendor wearing a protective face mask looks out of her store selling sugar-coated haws on a stick in Beijing, Sunday, April 12, 2020. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

Visitors dressed as frogs walk along a popular street lined with bars, in Beijing, Friday, May 5, 2023. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

A soldier looks at a line during a ceremony to mark Martyrs' Day at the Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, 30 September 2022. Martyr's Day is celebrated on the eve of National Day of the People's Republic of China to commemorate the people who sacrificed their lives in pursuit of national independence. (Photo by Mark R. Cristino/EPA/EFE)

A protester lies on the ground after being pushed during a protest over coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions in mainland China, during a commemoration of the victims of a fire in Urumqi, in Hong Kong, China on November 28, 2022. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

A folk performer (front R) with make-up and props takes part in a “Blood Shehuo” parade, during a performance in Linyi county, Shanxi province March 21, 2015. “Shehuo” is the common name of Chinese traditional activities consisting of folk performances in northern China. The “Blood Shehuo” performers use make-up and props to re-enact scenes of horror in classic Chinese novels like Water Margin. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A “nail house”, the last building in the area, sits in the middle of a road under construction in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region April 10, 2015. According to local media, the owner of the house didn't reach an agreement with the local authority about compensation of the demolition. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Young Chinese football players help an injured player off the field during training at the Evergrande International Football School on June 12, 2014 near Qingyuan in Guangdong Province, China. The sprawling 167-acre campus is the brainchild of property tycoon Xu Jiayin, whose ambition is to train a generation of young athletes to establish China as a football powerhouse. The school is considered the largest football academy in the world with 2400 students, more than 50 pitches and a squad of Spanish coaches through a partnership with Real Madrid. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, January 9, 2013, ahead of the Chinese lunar new year of the Snake, following the Chinese zodiac, genetically modified, auspicious, white snakes slither across the altar at the Temple of White Snakes in Taoyuan county, in north western Taiwan. Director of the temple Mr. Lo Chin-shih says the new year of the snake would be a time of steady progress, in contrast to the more turbulent nature of the outgoing year of the dragon. The Chinese new year fall on February 10. (Photo by Wally Santana/AP Photo)