XINHUA-PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2022-CHINA NEWS

(230109) -- BEIJING, Jan. 9, 2023 (Xinhua) -- Veterans Zhang Xuanzhong (1st L), Tian Ye (2nd L) and others conduct a terran survey in the Taklimakan Desert in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, July 3, 2022. Over four years, Tian Ye and seven fellow veterans have grown hundreds of hectares of wind-blocking and income-making plants in the Taklimakan Desert in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The veterans' efforts are part of a wider desert control campaign of Qiemo County. In nearly a decade, the county has recorded more than 150,000 people participating in its afforestation initiatives, resulting in a "green Great Wall" surrounding Qiemo. (Xinhua/Li Xiang)