China Gallery

Lantern Festival in Taiwan

People release sky lanterns to celebrate the traditional Chinese Lantern Festival in Shifen, Taipei County, February 28, 2010. Believers gathered to release sky lanterns as a form of prayer for good luck and blessings. The tradition of releasing lanterns began during the Ching Dynasty when bands of outlaws frequently raided villages, forcing local residents to seek refuge in the mountains. The lanterns were signals used by the village watchmen to inform the refugees that their houses were safe again. The Lantern Festival or Yuan Xiao Jie is a Chinese festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar year in the Chinese calendar. REUTERS/Nicky Loh (TAIWAN - Tags: SOCIETY)

Chinese visits ruins of live-human frostbite laboratory building of Japanese germ warfare centre

Chinese visits ruins of live-human frostbite laboratory building of Japanese germ warfare centre located in south of Harbin. A Chinese visits the ruins of the live-human frostbite laboratory building of a Japanese germ warfare centre located in the south of Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang province, April 24, 2005. China will seek UNESCO World Heritage protection for the ruins of a Japanese germ warfare centre during World War Two called Unit 731. The laboratories, prisons and crematoria were notorious for experiments on humans to develop germ weapons, such as bubonic plague, typhoid, anthrax and cholera. REUTERS/Jason Lee - RP6DRMVHRFAB

Tourists walk on a part of the Huanghuacheng section of Chinas Great Wall which was recently

Tourists walk on a part of the Huanghuacheng section of China's Great Wall which was recently renovated northwest of Chengguan town. Tourists walk on a part of the Huanghuacheng section of China's Great Wall which was recently renovated northwest of Chengguan town April 21, 2005. Beijing began Tuesday a second phase of a project to repair a 12.4 kilometres (7.7 miles) section of the Great Wall in a suburban area, the municipal government announced. At a cost of 12 million yuan ($1.45 million), the whole project will cover rebuilding of 13 towers, two gates, 3,300 meters of wall and other facilities on a four-kilometer stretch of the Huanghuacheng section. The total area of the repair of buildings totals 18,870 square metres (203, 115 square feet), Xinhua newsagency reported. REUTERS/Jason Lee - RP6DRMVHRDAB