A glimpse of daily life in parts of China, documented by wire photographers from the Associated Press, Reuters and Getty. The post begins with a short essay by Reuters photographer Jason Lee. Lee photographed six-year-old Wang Gengxiang, known as the "Masked Boy." Gengxiang was severely burned in an accident involving a burning pile of straw last winter. Most of the skin on the little boy's head was burned off, requiring him to wear a full surgical mask. The mask is said to prevent his scars from becoming infected. According to the local media in the village where Gengxiang was photographed, the doctors cannot continue his skin-graft surgery until his damaged trachea (or windpipe) is strong enough. The Lee essay is following by a black slide, and then more "slice of life" photography from a still somewhat mysterious China.
1. Wang Gengxiang on Children's Day, June 1, 2010, and after he was severely burned in an accident, at Mijiazhuang village on the outskirts of Fenyang, North China's Shanxi province, September 9, 2011. Gengxiang, age 6, known as "Masked Boy", was severely burned in an accident involving a burning pile of straw last winter. (Jason Lee/Reuters)
2. Wang Shouwu helps his son, Wang Gengxiang, with a mask after waking. The mask prevents his scars from growing and spreading. Gengxiang, 6, was severely burned in an accident involving a pile of burning straw last winter. Most of the skin on his head was burned off, requiring him to wear a full surgical mask to prevent the scars from becoming infected. (Jason Lee/Reuters)
3. Wang Gengxiang adjusts his clean mask after his father changed it for him. The doctors have disclosed that they cannot continue his skin-graft surgery until his damaged trachea, or windpipe, is strong enough, according to local media reports. (Jason Lee/Reuters)
4. Wang Gengxiang carries bowls for dinner at Mijiazhuang village where he lives on the outskirts of Fenyang, North China's Shanxi province. (Jason Lee/Reuters)
5. Wang Gengxiang is fed by his father Wang Shouwu during breakfast in the front courtyard of their home at Mijiazhuang village. (Jason Lee/Reuters)
6. The head of a local kindergarten stops Wang Gengxiang from entering as she talks to his father. Gengxiang is not allowed to attend classes at the kindergarden for issues of his personal safety and concerns about how his presence might affect other children at the school, according to his father. He is only allowed into the kindergarden to play during media visits. (Jason Lee/Reuters)
7. Wang Gengxiang plays with a classmate in a kindergarten classroom at Mijiazhuang village. Further corrective surgery for Gengxiang, 6, is on hold until his damaged trachea heals. (Jason Lee/Reuters)
8. Wang Gengxiang plays a staring game with a girl in a kindergarten classroom. (Jason Lee/Reuters)
9. Wang Gengxiang enjoys playing with his father, Wang Shouwu, in the front courtyard of their home. (Jason Lee/Reuters)
10. Wang Shouwu blows up a balloon for his son Gengxiang, known as "Masked Boy", beside a road at Mijiazhuang village on the outskirts of Fenyang. (Jason Lee/Reuters)
11. Wang Gengxiang sits by a roadside playing by himself in Mijiazhuang village. Further corrective surgery for the boy, who sustained extensive injuries in a fire accident, is delaying until his trachea heals. (Jason Lee/Reuters)
12. Wang Gengxiang plays in his bedroom at his home. Gengxiang, 6, was severely burned in an accident involving a pile of burning straw last winter. (Jason Lee/Reuters)
13. Wang Gengxiang plays on his father's motorcycle in the front courtyard of his house at Mijiazhuang village. (Jason Lee/Reuters)
14. Wang Gengxiang plays by himself in an alley at Mijiazhuang village on the outskirts of Fenyang, North China's Shanxi province. Doctors disclosed that they cannot continue his skin-graft surgery until his damaged trachea, or windpipe, is strong enough, according to local media reports. (Jason Lee/Reuters)
15. ---
16. A newly married couple pose for their wedding photo on a street in Shanghai, China, Sept. 19, 2011. (Eugene Hoshiko/Associated Press)
17. A visitor throws a kiss to a Beluga Whale, swimming inside an aquarium at the Laohutan Ocean Park in Dalian, in northeast China's Liaoning province, Sept. 17, 2011. (Andy Wong/Associated Press)
18. Performers take part in the opening of the 13th Beijing International Tourism Festival held in Beijing, China, Sept. 17, 2011. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press)
19. The ethnic minority dancers perform during a large party for the 9th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities of the People's Republic of China, Sept. 15, 2011 in Guiyang, China. (Feng Li/Getty Images)
20. Visitors walk in a maze during alarge party for the 9th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities of the People's Republic of China, Sept. 15, 2011 in Guiyang, China. (Feng Li/Getty Images)
21. Chinese girls wait to perform a dance during the large party of the 9th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities of the People's Republic of China, Sept. 15, 2011 in Guiyang, China. (Feng Li/Getty Images)
22. Workers labor on a giant lantern shaped structure near Mao Zedong's portrait and the Chinese national flag on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, Sept. 16, 2011. Increasing numbers of Chinese are seeking to run as independent candidates in upcoming local elections and are running into daunting obstacles as the ruling Communist Party tries to tamp down any threat to its monopoly on power. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press)
23. An ethnic minority woman attends the large party for the 9th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities of the People's Republic of China, Sept. 15, 2011 in Guiyang, China. (Feng Li/Getty Images)
24. An ethnic minority dancer attends a large party for the 9th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities of the People's Republic of China, Sept. 15, 2011. (Feng Li/Getty Images)
25. Chinese children dance during a large party for the 9th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities of the People's Republic of China, Sept. 15, 2011. (Feng Li/Getty Images)
26. A teacher covers a child with a quilt as children take an afternoon nap at a kindergarden in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, Sept. 14, 2011. (Stringer/Reuters)
27. Employees work on a plastinated human body specimen at a workshop of Dalian Hoffen Bio-Technique Co. Ltd. in Dalian, Liaoning province, Sept. 13, 2011. Founded by Dr. Sui Hongjin in 2004, Dalian Hoffen Bio-Technique Co. Ltd. is known in the production, preservation, and exhibition of plastinated biotic specimens of human and animals. The specimens, including whole bodies as well as individual organs and transparent body slices, each requiring 4 employees working for 8 to 12 months, have been meticulously dissected and preserved to allow visitors to view muscular, nervous, circulatory, respiratory and digestive systems. Sept. 13, 2011. (Sheng Li/Reuters)
28. The carcass of a shark is lifted by employees after being soaked in glue for about 50 days at a workshop of Dalian Hoffen Bio-Technique Co. Ltd. in Dalian, Liaoning province, Sept. 13, 2011. (Sheng Li/Reuters)An athlete in the single bamboo drifting competition, during the 9th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities of the People's Republic of China, September 11, 2011 in Guiyang, China. (Feng Li/Getty Images)
29. An athlete in the single bamboo drifting competition, during the 9th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities of the People's Republic of China, September 11, 2011 in Guiyang, China. (Feng Li/Getty Images)
30. Performers pass the grandstand during the 9th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities of the People's Republic of China, September 12, 2011. (Feng Li/Getty Images)
31. A young girl walks among horse statues built as a tribute to Genghis Khan whose unmarked tomb is believed to be nearby, in the city of Ordos, Inner Mongolia, September 12, 2011. The city, commonly referred to as a "Ghost Town" because of its lack of current residents, is being built to house 1.5 million inhabitants and has been dubbed the "Dubai of China" by locals. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)
32. A child with a wind mill toy walks in a park in Beijing, China, Sept. 12, 2011. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press)
33. A girl stands in front of giant lanterns at the Lantern Wonderland exhibition at Hong Kong's Victoria Park, Sept. 11, 2011. The exhibition was held to celebrate the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Moon Festival. (Tyrone Siu /Reuters)
34. Dancers perform during the Opening Ceremony for the 9th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities of the People's Republic of China, Sept. 10, 2011 in Guiyang, China. (Feng Li/Getty Images)
35. Great Britain's Alistair Brownlee and the rest of the elite men competitors dive into the Ming Tomb reservoir during the mass start in Changping of the 2011 Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Grand Final Beijing in China, Sept. 10, 2011. (Janos Schmidt/ITU/Associated Press)
36. The elite women speed through the streets of Changping, Beijing, China, at the 2011 Beijing ITU Triathlon Under23 World Championships in China, Sept. 10, 2011. (Delly Carr/ITU/Associated Press)
37. Students rehearse for a religious ceremony performance at an activity room of the Liuhe Catholic Church in Liuhe village on the outskirts of Qingxu county, northern China's Shanxi province, Sept. 10, 2011. Liuhe is one of the largest parishes in mainland China, where about 90% of the population follow Catholicism. (Jason Lee/Reuters)
38. A man waits for a mass at the Liuhe Catholic Church in Liuhe village, Sept. 10, 2011. Liuhe is one of the largest parishes in mainland China, about 6,700 or 90% of the villagers follow Catholicism. (Jason Lee/Reuters)
39. A passerby walks between decorative lights prepared for the Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival at a park in Hong Kong, Sept. 8, 2011. Chinese worldwide celebrate the festival on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Lunar calendar. The festival began as a harvest moon celebration in ancient China and also marks the overthrown of the Mongol rulers during the Yuan Dynasty. (Bobby Yip/Reuters)
40. A vendor sits in front of piles of Chinese watermelons at a market in Hefei, Anhui province, Sept. 9, 2011. (Stringer/Reuters)
41. A customer carries a piglet he bought to a truck at a livestock fair on the outskirts of Shenyang, Liaoning province, Sept. 9, 2011. (Stringer/Reuters)
42. A Chinese vendor secures a slaughtered pig onto his motorcycle at an abattoir in Hefei, east China's Anhui province. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the government was looking at ways to encourage farmers to raise pigs, in a bid to stabilize the price of pork, China's meat of choice. The world's second-largest economy has been struggling to bring the spiraling prices under control and fears they could spark unrest as living expenses spike for many millions. (Stringer/AFP/Getty Images)
43. A real estate agent walks next to empty apartments at a new residential area in Shanghai Sept. 8, 2011. Record-high, and still-rising house prices, have led many economists to warn that China is nursing a property bubble, the bursting of which could destabilize the world's second-largest economy. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
44. Workers at a residential construction site in Shanghai Sept. 8, 2011. China's campaign of tightening up on the property market cannot last because the country cannot afford to overly crimp domestic demand, according to Meng Xiaosu, an advisory chairman to the country's biggest state developer.(Carlos Barria/Reuters)
45. Visitors view a group of portraits of politicians on display at the Jin Businessmen Collection exhibition in Taiyuan, in north China's Shanxin province on Sept. 7, 2011. (Stringer/AFP/Getty Images)
46. Parents of freshmen students sleep on mats laid out on the floor of a gymnasium at Huazhong Normal University in Wuhan, Hubei province, Sept. 3, 2011. The university set out mats for some 600 parents accompanying freshmen students on their first day of school, local media reported. (China Daily/Reuters)
47. An egg vendor waits for customers at a wholesale market in Hefei, Anhui province, Sept. 7, 2011. (Stringer/Reuters)
48. A fisherman takes stock of the dead fish at a fish farm in Shuikou Reservoir in Gutian county in southeast China's Fujian province. Local authorities are investigating the mass killing of millions of fish at fish farms in the reservoir. (Associated Press)
49. A worker sorts artificially cultivated freshwater pearls at a pearl production factory in Zhuji, Zhejiang province, Sept. 6, 2011. Zhuji aims to become an international production and distribution hub for artificially cultivated freshwater pearls. The city has been cultivating pearl clams since the 1970s, and now supplies 60 percent of the overall Chinese market and 30 percent of the global market with pearl products. (Lang Lang/Reuters)
50. A garbage collector looks into a public trash bin in Shanghai, China, Sept. 6, 2011. (Eugene Hoshiko/Associated Press)
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