BEIJING, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- A selection of the best press photos from Xinhua.
This photo taken on Oct. 8, 2023 shows a view of the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Xinhua/Cheng Tingting)
Artists perform during the closing ceremony of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Oct. 8, 2023. (Xinhua/Sun Fei)
This photo taken on Oct. 8, 2023 shows the closing ceremony of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)
Team China wait for their results after the Team Free Routine of Artistic Swimming at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Oct. 8, 2023. (Xinhua/Xia Yifang)
A staff member repairs a Terracotta Warrior at the pit No.1 of the Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, April 26, 2023.
"We are the Terracotta Warriors specialists, and this room is a 'hospital' for the relics in the museum," said Lan Desheng, an expert in the restoration of cultural relics with the Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum.
Archaeological research shows that pigments have been found on the Terracotta Warriors. The painted layers of the Terracotta Warriors are very fragile. Once unearthed, with the changes of humidity and temperature, the surface quickly dehydrates and the painted layer comes off. In addition, microorganisms, soluble salts and other factors also cause color fading.
According to Lan, shortly after unearthing, each painted Terracotta Warrior must go through X-ray detection, ultrasonic scanning, 3D images acquisition and other procedures. Staff members clean and restore the pieces of the painted Terracotta Warriors using slim bamboo slips, scalpels, small brushes, etc. Every Terracotta Warrior also has its own ID. In recent years, Lan and his team have completed the restoration of more than 140 Terracotta Warriors.
Discovered in 1974 and listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1987, the army of Terracotta Warriors was built by Emperor Qinshihuang of the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C.-207 B.C.). (Photo by Zou Jingyi/Xinhua)
You Xiaoxiao carves on an inkstone blank at a studio in Xin'an County, central China's Henan Province, Oct. 7, 2023.
The Yellow River Chengni inkstone, with a history of more than 1,000 years, was listed as a Henan provincial intangible cultural heritage in 2007. Among the "four famous inkstones" in China, only Chengni inkstone is made of fine mud.
The raw material of the Chengni inkstone is sediment from the Yellow River. It takes nearly 60 processes, such as mud selection, mud refining, design, blank-making, carving and roasting, to make one inkstone.
You Xiaoxiao, a municipal-level inheritor of Yellow River Chengni inkstone in Xin'an County, passed on the family tradition of making inkstones after graduating from college.
Speaking of the future, You said that she would bring her understanding into the design as the tradition could only flourish with the passion of the younger generation. (Xinhua/Hao Yuan)
This photo taken on Oct. 8, 2023 shows a view of the launch ceremony of the 1st freight train of Shanghai-Kunming Lancang-Mekong Express at Wangjiaying West Station in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province. A freight train loaded with goods from Southeast Asia and specialty products of Yunnan left Kunming on Sunday, and was expected to reach its destination Shanghai in 82 hours. This marked the official launch of the Shanghai-Kunming Lancang-Mekong Express freight train service, which runs on the China-Laos Railway and the Shanghai-Kunming Railway to connect the Laotian capital of Vientiane and east China's Shanghai. (Xinhua/Hu Chao)
This photo taken on Oct. 8, 2023 shows the entrance of a school destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City.
The death toll from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza has risen to 370, with 2,200 others injured, according to an update from the Gaza-based Health Ministry on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the death toll from Hamas' surprise attack on Israel has reached 600, Israel's state-owned Kan TV news reported on Sunday. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
A Palestinian checks destroyed buildings following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Oct. 8, 2023. Israel's cabinet declared a "state of war" on Sunday after a massive surprise attack launched by Hamas has so far killed at least 700 in Israel while retaliatory Israeli airstrikes killed at least 413 in Gaza. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
This photo taken on Oct. 8, 2023 shows Israeli soldiers at the southern Israeli town of Ofakim.
The death toll from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza has risen to 370, with 2,200 others injured, according to an update from the Gaza-based Health Ministry on Sunday.
At least 300 Israelis were killed and more than 1,800 injured during the Hamas attack, figures released by the Israeli Health Ministry showed. (Ilan Assayag/JINI via Xinhua)
Israeli forces demolish a police station where some Hamas militants were holed up in Sderot, southern Israel on Oct. 8, 2023.
The death toll from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza has risen to 370, with 2,200 others injured, according to an update from the Gaza-based Health Ministry on Sunday.
At least 300 Israelis were killed and more than 1,800 injured during the Hamas attack, figures released by the Israeli Health Ministry showed. (JINI via Xinhua)
This photo taken on Oct. 8, 2023 shows ruins of dwellings after earthquakes in Herat Province, Afghanistan. The death toll from earthquakes in western Afghanistan's Herat and neighboring provinces has risen to 2,445, Herat authorities said Sunday night. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)■
