Attendants holding umbrellas serve delegates in the rain as they arrive for the opening ceremony of the 21st Century Council Beijing Conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 1, 2014.
A man stands for a portrait in front of a large screen showing a nature scene in Tiananmen Square.
A concrete statue of Mao Zedong, wrapped for transport, is hoisted by cranes at a logistics company before being transported to the Chongqing Municipal Industry Museum in Chongqing. This statue was erected in 1968 during China’s Cultural Revolution. This is the first time that the city moved a Mao statue.
A man walks in a fog-shrouded Jilin city in Jilin province. Many cities maintained alert for air pollution on February 25 after smog choked northern and central China several days earlier. That month Beijing’s air quality index, as measured by the U.S. Embassy, hit “hazardous” territory for six days in a row.
A boy dressed as a pirate for Halloween wears a face mask due to pollution on a hazy October 31 in Beijing. Pollution levels in the city and other parts of northern China often surpass levels deemed hazardous by the World Health Organization.
This year, Xi Jinping worked overtime to oust corrupt officials and jail moderate critics.
A young couple who did not give their names wear gas masks as they pose for a wedding photographer prior to their marriage next to the tents used by pro-democracy demonstrators at the Admiralty protest site on November 14, 2014 in Hong Kong.
Leng Yuting, left, and her husband-to-be, Qin Riyang, pose for their wedding pictures in a pool at a photo studio in Shanghai, ahead of their wedding next year. Qin said they had their wedding photographs taken underwater because “it’s romantic and beautiful.” The underwater photo service operates in a city known for its over-the-top wedding photo shoots.
Deployment marks shift in Africa policy and will be first Chinese infantry battalion to take part in a UN peacekeeping mission.
In this composite image, women pose in “facekinis” on the Yellow Sea in Qingdao. The locally-designed masks are worn by many local women to protect them from jellyfish, algae, and the sun.
