Paramilitary police recruits stand in formation amidst a dust storm during a meeting at a military base in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Dec.21, 2010.
A protester steps on an illustration of the flags of Taiwan and China merged together after an agreement signing ceremony between Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) in Taipei Dec.21, 2010. Taiwan's government will increase the daily limit on the number of mainland tourists allowed on the island to 4,000 from next year in the latest sign of warming ties between the two political rivals.
Hundreds of protesters march during a demonstration in Macau to mark the anniversary of the territory's handover to China, Monday Dec. 20, 2010 demanding universal suffrage and improvements to social benefits.
A technician cleans a fresco at a newly excavated tomb dating to the Liao Dynasty (907-1125), in Fuxin, northeast China's Liaoning Province, Dec. 20, 2010. The fresco, with a total length of 26 meters, was excavated from the tomb of a Liao Dynasty princess, discovered in October.
A newly-born genetically engineered buffalo lies under an ultraviolet lamp at the research base of Guangxi University on Dec.19, 2010 in Nanning, southwestern China's Guangxi Province. The animal is the world's first transgenic buffalo, the university says.
A laborer splashes water on the site of a rare earth metals mine at Nancheng county, Jiangxi province Dec. 21, 2010. China's monthly exports of rare earth metals more than doubled in November to 2,090 tonnes, bouncing back after falling by more than three-quarters in October, data supplied by China Customs Statistics Information Centre (HK) showed.
A swimmer dives into the icy water of Houhai Lake in central Beijing, Dec. 21, 2010. After a cold patch featuring the lowest December temperatures in 25 years, the Chinese capital has seen a stretch of relatively warm days.